COSMOS Map
Director
Dr. Nitin Agarwal is the Jerry L. Maulden-Entergy Endowed Chair and Distinguished Professor of Information Science at UA Little Rock and Director of the Collaboratorium for Social Media and Online Behavioral Studies (COSMOS). He researches cyber information campaigns, social computing, deviant behavior modeling, group dynamics, social-cyber forensics, data mining, and privacy.
Postdoctoral Fellows
After graduating with his master's degree in systems engineering from UA Little Rock, Mustafa chose to continue in his education in this field and enrolled in the Ph.D. program. He was introduced to COSMOS in the Spring of 2018. His background includes operational research and the protection of infrastructure networks from malicious attacks.
Ahmed Al-Taweel is a Ph.D. postdoctoral research fellow at the COSMOS research center after completing his Ph.D. in applied mathematics at UA Little Rock with a research interest in numerical analysis and scientific computing. He received an M.S. in Mathematical Sciences from the UA Little Rock (2020).In COSMOS, he works with the research team in developing mathematical models of socio-technical behaviors on a variety of social media platforms. Currently he is working on Narrative analysis project.
Billy Spann is a Ph.D. postdoctoral research fellow at the COSMOS research center. He earned his Ph.D. in April 2022. He also has an M.S. in Information Science, and B.S. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from UALR and an M.B.A. from the UALR College of Business. Billy is a mid-career PhD Graduate that has over 20 years of planning, design, and research experience as an engineering leader in the wireless telecom industry.
Data Engineers
Seyi graduated with his Master's degree in Information Science. He combines a technical background in Software Engineering and Data Science with 4 years of Product Management experience across companies like Zoom and Teamapt - A fintech Unicorn in Africa. While working in COSMOS, his research areas include detecting and forecasting suspicious behaviors on YouTube. Read More
Doctoral Students
Abiola is pursuing a Ph.D. in Computer and Information Sciences at UA Little Rock. He possesses significant experience as a software engineer across organizations in the financial, financial technology, and energy industries. In his most recent experience, Abiola was an iOS engineer for multiple financial institutions. He holds a bachelor's degree in Applied Geology and a master's degree in Exploration Geophysics from the Federal University of Technology, Akure, Nigeria (FUTA). Abiola is an avid lifelong learner.
Hayder is pursuing his doctoral degree at UA Little Rock. He graduated from Al Nahrain University in Bagdad, Iraq, with a bachelor's degree and master's degree in computer science. His extensive studies focused on web technologies.
Sayantan is a PhD student of Computer & Information Science at UA Little Rock. His professional trajectory encompasses roles as a distinguished Software Developer, contributing his expertise to renowned entities such as Accenture and Cognizant. His scholarly passions converge at the crossroads of Social Computing, domains of Fake News/Misinformation-Propaganda detection, and Discourse analysis. Currently, he lends his acumen as a dedicated Graduate Research Assistant in the esteemed COSMOS lab, engrossed in the spheres of Collective Action, Indo-Pacific dynamics, and Cyberforensics.
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Mert is pursuing PhD in Computer and Information Science at UALR. He completed his bachelor's in computer science in 2021. He is interested in data mining, and natural language processing on social media. Currently he is working on recommender bias on YouTube project in COSMOS. In his free time, he plays video games and watch movies.
Rick is a PhD student at the UA Little Rock pursuing a degree in Computers and Information Science. His interests revolve around strategic communications, social network analysis and social cyber forensics.
Katrin Galeano is a PhD student at the UA Little Rock. She majors in Computers and Information Science. Her background is in strategic communications for non-profit and government organizations.
Mayor Inna Gurung is a PhD student after completing her Master's degree in information science student at UA Little Rock. She completed her undergraduate degree in computing in 2020 and has been working in the information technology and service ever since. Travel enthusiast Mayor Inna is currently working as developer in Vtracker and she is ardent about utilizing technology for greater good.
He received the B.S. degree in international relations from Ege University, ̇Izmir, Turkey, and the M.Phil. degree in international relations from the National Defence University, Islamabad, Pakistan. He is currently pursuing the Ph.D. degree in computer and information sciences with the Uni- versity of Arkansas at Little Rock, Little Rock, AR, USA.
Mainuddin Shaik is a doctoral Candidate in Information Science. His research interests include social media, social science, information operation and online discourse. He is working as a graduate research assistant for COSMOS lab working on multiple projects from data collection to big data analysis along with his own research on identifying mechanism of dynamic influential operation on blogs, YouTube and Twitter.
Shadi Shajari received her bachelor's degree in information technology engineering from Tehran, Iran and her masters degree in computer science from Pisa University, Italy. She have 8 years experience of software development In Iran and Italy and currently, She is a Ph.D. student in computer and information science at University of Arkansas at Little Rock. She is working as a graduate research assistant at COSMOS.
David is pursuing his Ph.D. in Computer and Information Science at UA Little Rock. He is an adjunct teaching faculty member in the University of Arkansas system and a Principal Engineer at a national telecommunications company.
Niloofar is a Ph.D. student in Information Quality at UA Little Rock. She completed her undergraduate degree in Computer engineering in Iran and I graduated from University of Pisa in Italy with master degree in Data science. She is currently working on "Toxicity on Social Media" in COSMOS research center.
Outreach Officer
Tenzing is a Master’s student pursuing a degree in Professional and Technical Writing at University of Arkansas at Little Rock. With an undergraduate background in English, editing, and science writing, he hopes to be able to hone his skills in writing and editing COSMOS for both science and technical writing, and to help others polish their writing, as well. He began working for COSMOS in summer of 2023, and currently helps COSMOS as a proofreader and editor. His research interests are argumentation theory, legal rhetoric, and editing for global contexts. Read More
Graduate Students
Mary Mezue is a Master’s student studying Business Information and Analytics at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, with a track record of building software products as a product manager in Nigeria’s financial technology space. Mary currently works at COSMOS as public affairs officer and also works with blog tracker team with a research focus on analyzing how false information and fake news stories are spread through social media. Read More
Tenzing is a Master’s student pursuing a degree in Professional and Technical Writing at University of Arkansas at Little Rock. With an undergraduate background in English, editing, and science writing, he hopes to be able to hone his skills in writing and editing COSMOS for both science and technical writing, and to help others polish their writing, as well. He began working for COSMOS in summer of 2023, and currently helps COSMOS as a proofreader and editor. His research interests are argumentation theory, legal rhetoric, and editing for global contexts.
Kongala Chinni Krishna is a Master's student pursuing a degree in Information Quality at University of Arkansas at Little Rock and also working on ETL pipeline in COSMOS. He completed his bachelor’s in Electronics and Communication as his Major. He worked as a software developer for 1 year in Multi-National Company, as a developer. He is passionate to code and enthusiastic to learn new skills.
Manohar Koya is currently pursuing his Master's in Computer Science at UA Little Rock. He completed his bachelor's in CS and have an experience of 1.5 years as backend software engineer. Being an ICPC Regionalist he likes to code competitive. And he is passionate about nature and different cultures.
Imran Mohammed is pursuing his master's degree in computer science department at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. He is an experienced professional with expertise in integration platforms, messaging systems, cloud services, and infrastructure management. With prior roles at IBM and Liberty Mutual insurance, he has worked with clients like Panasonic North America, Honda American Motors, Nasco, and Irving Oil. Imran's proficiency in platforms like MuleSoft, IBM ACE/IIB, Kafka, Apache MQ, IBM MQ, Microsoft IIS, Apache Tomcat, IBM HTTP server, Managed File transfer as well as his knowledge of DevOps tools and cloud services such as AWS and Microsoft Azure, demonstrates his ability to deliver effective solutions in diverse environments. With his experience in various technologies, he will bring valuable skills to drive efficiency and innovation in his future projects at COSMOS.
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Precious is an ambitious Master's Student specializing in Business Information Systems and Analytics at the esteemed University of Arkansas at Little Rock. With a solid foundation in the field, he brings valuable experience from his prior role as a Data and Analytics consultant at PwC (PricewaterhouseCoopers). During his time there, Precious successfully collaborated with numerous clients, employing data-driven strategies to enhance operations, streamline processes, and mitigate risks.
Currently, Precious is actively engaged in ETL projects and contributing to the Vtracker project as a backend developer. Beyond his professional pursuits, he finds joy in fostering vibrant communities and indulging in his passion for music.
Syed is a Master’s student enrolled in Information Science degree at University of Arkansas at Little Rock. With experience in Data Engineering and DevOps of around 2 years, his expertise lies in creating solutions using NoSQL databases. He has provided organizations with observability products using ELK stack. He is proficient in programming languages such as Java and Python and winning a hackathon has been a defining moment as it provided him with a tremendous sense of accomplishment and validation for his abilities. Beyond his academic and professional pursuits, he finds enjoyment in swimming and playing cricket during his leisure time.
Ishmam Ahmed Solaiman is a masters student at UALR. He did his undergraduate in BRAC university in bangladesh in computer science. He worked as a software engineer at Optimizely inc. for a year and half starting from my 2nd last semester in university. He also worked as a full stack web developer for a startup before that. His interest in data science was piqued when he did his undergraduate thesis on “detecting covid 19 and pneumonia in xray images using neural network” and have always been keen on learning data science since then. Joining COSMOS has given him a chance to chase after those aspirations.
Grant Manager/Administrative Assistant
Fadime Ledford is a Grant Manager at the COSMOS Research Center at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. She oversees, manages, monitors, plans, and organizes the administration of designated grants, contracts, and special programs to ensure compliance with all federal, state, and institution policies and procedures.
Fadime earned her Bachelor’s degree of Health Science in Health Information Management, with a minor in Biology, from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock in 2013. Prior to joining UALR, Fadime served as an Audit Coordinator at the Arkansas Department of the Inspector General. Read More