• Find out about COVID-19 misinformation, read tips on how to identify it and report it.

  • Cosmographers attend CRA URMD Grad Cohort Workshop

  • Joseph Kready: 2020 Social Networks and Health Fellow

COSMOS is at the vanguard of the ever-evolving field of social computing that brings together an interdisciplinary team of researchers from over 15 countries. Founded in 2015, COSMOS is developing big ‘social’ data analytical tools to understand digital behaviors and forecast trends to achieve social good.

At COSMOS, we study the good, bad, and ugly aspects of our cyber social behaviors, including social movements, campaigns raising awareness about social issues, information and influence operations, mis/disinformation campaigns, computational and AI-based propaganda tactics, algorithmic warfare, and the rise of violent extremism. Aiming to strengthen our socio-cognitive security apparatus and help build community resiliency, these multi-year, multi-domain, and multicultural studies are supported by grants with a total funding of over $20 million from the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF), U.S. Army Research Office (ARO), U.S. Office of Naval Research (ONR), U.S. Air Force Research Lab (AFRL), and U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).

Research at COSMOS has made foundational contributions to social network analysis, (deviant) behavior modeling, combatting socio-cognitive threats, group dynamics, influence, trust, collective action, social-cyber forensics, computational narratology, smart health, data mining, and privacy. Our research has examined anti-NATO and anti-West propaganda campaigns, COVID-19 mis/disinformation campaigns, elections, conflicts/wars, terrorism, and violent extremism in different regions of the world, specifically Canada, Europe, the Middle East, and the Indo-Pacific region. To further our mission to bridge science, society, and policy through technology and innovation, the research conducted at COSMOS is transitioned to usable software tools, recognized internationally by NATO and WHO, and at home by the U.S. Department of State’s Global Engagement Center and Arkansas Office of the Attorney General.

Nitin Agarwal, Ph.D.
Founding Director, COSMOS Research Center
Jerry L. Maulden-Entergy Chair and Donaghey Distinguished Professor of Information Science
University of Arkansas – Little Rock

Team COSMOS

The latest about COSMOS

Cosmographers Intern All Over the US in 2023

December 1, 2023

Research Spotlight: Agent-based Models

December 1, 2023

Summer School on AI: An Exciting Opportunity to Teach and Network with International Scholars

December 1, 2023

SBP-BRiMS Conference: Uniting Minds in Social Computing and Cultural Behavioral Modeling

December 1, 2023

Dr. Nitin Agarwal Receives $5 Million Grant to Combat Socio-Cognitive Threats

November 28, 2023

DCSTEM Dean’s Selections: Dean’s Elevator Speech Award & Dean’s Cash Prize Award

July 8, 2023

Prestige in Data Analytics: DART Annual Conference Award

July 8, 2023

Acxiom Empowers: Outstanding Cosmographers Awarded Scholarship

July 8, 2023

Recognizing Excellence: UALR Expo Awards Exceptional Cosmographers

July 8, 2023

Research Spotlight: Recent Studies Published by Cosmographers

July 8, 2023

Dr. Nitin Agarwal Awarded an NSF Grant to Make Social Media Safer.

January 6, 2023

Oluwaseun Johnson Successfully Defends his Master’s Project

April 16, 2021

Tuja Khaund Successfully Defends her Doctoral Dissertation

April 16, 2021

Dr. Nitin Agarwal Edits IEEE Special Issue on Cyber Social Health

April 6, 2021

Adeola Adesoba awarded STEAM Scholarship

January 21, 2021

COSMOS Paper Wins Best Paper Award

December 24, 2020

COSMOS Develops Techniques to Identify Adversarial Information Operations Tactics

October 16, 2020

COSMOS Research about Online Influence Campaigns On YouTube Leading Up To Canadian Election Published by Queen’s University

September 17, 2020

COSMOS Paper Published in Text2Story’20 Workshop

April 23, 2020

COSMOS Team Places in Governor’s Cup and Wins $10,000

April 17, 2020