I call your attention to the upcoming conference on Sociolinguistic Variation and Language Processing (SVALP) to be held at Virginia Tech on March 31-April 2, organized by two of our alumni, Abby Walker and Katie Carmichael.
http://www.cpe.vt.edu/svalp/index.html
The program includes talks and posters by many current OSU faculty and students, including Ellen Dossey, Bridget Smith, Zack Jones, Cynthia Clopper, Zack De, Mike Phelan, and Lauren Squires (invited speaker).