COSMOS welcomes several new students, who recently joined the research center. Here we have their insights into their personalities, the desires that they bring to COSMOS, and what they study at UA Little Rock and in general. Below are several brief interviews of our new students Tenzing Briggs (joined Summer 2023), Remi Oni (joined Fall 2023), Samin Morshed (joined Fall 2023), and Selimhan Dagtas (joined Spring 2024).
Remi Oni
Tell us a little bit about yourself.
My name is Remi, and I’m from Nigeria. I just started UA Little Rock’s Information Science Masters in statistical and algorithm analysis.
What was your inspiration for joining COSMOS?
My inspiration stems from the quality of work that COSMOS is doing around data and the potential revolutionary discoveries the team is going to make. I want to be a part of that revolution, and that is why I am here.
Are you working on any papers or publications? Can you give us a little insight into what it is about? If none, are there any topics you are looking to write on?
I am currently not working on any personal papers or publication, but I am working on an ASONAM paper which centers on drift metrics and also a recommender bias system.
What makes you feel the most appreciated and understood?
An acknowledgement makes me feel appreciated. A reapplication of my idea or opinion makes me feel understood.
What is something you like to do outside of school/work?
I enjoy playing my acoustic guitar.
What is a big world problem that you would like to change?
I would like to help solve climate change.
Samin Morshed
Tell us a little bit about yourself.
My name is Md. Samin Morshed, and I from Bangladesh. I’ve joined UA Little Rock to pursue a PhD in Computer and Information Sciences, and started by taking courses in Social Computing, Software Engineering, and Machine Learning. I am currently working as a research assistant in both the Toxicity analysis and Bias analysis teams. I extensively research previous works, research code and improve them, as well as try to come up with research questions in these sectors.
What was your inspiration for joining COSMOS?
I wanted to get into Natural Language Processing, and the work in COSMOS focuses on online social behavior, through people’s comments and posts available in the public domain. The tremendous amount of work done by Dr. Agarwal and previous Cosmographers is a gold mine of research, where I hope to come up with something new where I can apply state-of-the-art NLP techniques here.
Are you working on any papers or publications? Can you give us a little insight into what it is about? If none, are there any topics you are looking to write on?
Currently I am working in two teams in COSMOS, and one of them is toxicity analysis in online behavior; I want to write on how this online toxic behavior affects community dynamics.
What makes you feel the most appreciated and understood?
I would say if someone not only looks into just the results of my work, but also the struggle behind it, that would make me feel the most understood.
What is something you like to do outside of school/work?
I love to read books, and play video games, though I don’t get that much time to play video games these days.
What would you tell your younger self?
I would tell him to not give up, and to not be lazy as well!
What is a big world problem that you would like to change?
Climate change is the biggest world problem we are facing now. It won’t matter when the climate changes for the worst even if we set aside all our differences. That is something I would urge everyone to work on and improve, to make our planet a healthy one.
Tenzing Briggs
Tell us a little bit about yourself.
I’m Tenzing Briggs. I grew up both in Alaska and in Arkansas. I’m currently pursuing a Master’s of Arts in Professional and Technical Writing (PTW) at UA Little Rock, which is through the Rhetoric & Writing department. At COSMOS, I help with a combination of copyediting, proofreading, and formatting for the different styles of different journals and conferences, and, rarely, with developmental editing.
What was your inspiration for joining COSMOS?
Ever since undergrad, where I was an English major, I’ve wanted to edit nonfiction. I was first inspired to join UA Little Rock’s rhetoric program, as I had fallen in love with rhetoric in undergrad, but as soon as I discovered COSMOS I knew I wanted to work with the COSMOS team. What’s really inspiring about working for COSMOS is that the team covers a huge number of topics, and all of those papers and their topics are breakthrough in the fields of social computing and social sciences.
Are you working on any papers or publications? Can you give us a little insight into what it is about? If none, are there any topics you are looking to write on?
I’m not currently working on papers, other than helping as a final proofreader before papers in general get sent out. Later on, I would like to explore a paper that unites social computing and rhetorical theory.
What makes you feel the most appreciated and understood?
I feel most appreciated when I can work with my fellow Cosmographers face-to-face.
What is something you like to do outside of school/work?
Outside work, I like to play video and board games with friends. Occasionally, I like to swim.
What would you tell your younger self?
I would tell him that it will all work out eventually, as long as you keep at it and get sleep.
What is a big world problem that you would like to change?
I would like to write short stories that give hope to those with mental health issues.
Selimhan Dagtas
Tell us a little bit about yourself.
My name is Selimhan Dagtas. I was born in Ohio, but my parents are Turkish. After I graduated from Little Rock Central High School, I moved to Turkey to study Aerospace Engineering. Now, I have come back to Arkansas to study Information Science at UA Little Rock. At COSMOS, I will be working with gathering large data sets from various social media platforms, so we can analyze if there is a bias in certain recommendation algorithms and in what way this bias is directed.
What was your inspiration for joining COSMOS?
The COSMOS Team has done amazing work in the past regarding identifying the potential dangers of improper social media use, such as misinformation and mass propaganda. In the past few years I have noticed misinformation spreading and certain views being censored. As social media becomes a more prominent force in our daily lives, it becomes increasingly important to address such problems in order to ensure a secure digital environment.
Are there any research areas you are looking to explore?
Many people spend a significant portion of their time on social media, and the content they consume has a large impact on their opinions and views. This could be taken advantage of to shift the public’s view. I would like to explore if it would be possible to engineer a virtual social space that ensures an unbiased algorithm and gives everyone a voice without unnecessary censorship.
What makes you feel the most appreciated and understood?
I feel appreciated and understood when I share a challenging experience with someone. For example, in the final year of my aerospace engineering degree, we, a team of 3, had to complete a design of a wind turbine to a certain specification. We spent sleepless nights pouring our heart and soul into this project and finally achieved the required specs. At the end of that experience we all understood and appreciated each other.
What is something you like to do outside of school/work?
I like working on personal projects that solve simple problems. For example, I needed a specific workout tracking app for my calisthenics workout schedule. Since none of the apps published suited my needs, I developed the app with the features I wanted.
What would you tell your younger self?
You can achieve more than you think you can. So aim high.
What is a big world problem that you would like to change?
The world is slowly moving toward automation with the help of machines and robots. I would like to accelerate that process as much as possible. I dream of a world where people don’t have to labor away with meaningless and repetitive tasks that can be taken care of with automation systems, and where people can focus on more meaningful endeavors.