Prof. Nitin Agarwal Presents COSMOS Research at the 46th ICIS Conference
Prof. Nitin Agarwal presented a research study at the 46th International Conference on Information Systems (ICIS 2025) in Nashville, one of the most prestigious global conferences in information systems. The research, titled “Modeling Word-Level Functions in Social Movement Discourse,” examined how linguistic functions shape online mobilization and collective identity through a socio-cognitive lens. The work contributes theoretical and methodological insights for IS research, AI-driven social computing, and digital governance, reinforcing COSMOS’s leadership and UA Little Rock’s international research presence.
Hot off the Press: Modeling Polarized Information Diffusion with SEI(A)I(D)Z: A Stance-Based Epidemiological Approach
We are pleased to announce our recent publication in Springer’s Journal on Social Network Analysis and Mining, which introduces a novel stance-based epidemiological framework, SEI(A)I(D)Z, for modeling polarized information diffusion. Moving beyond metadata-driven approaches, the study explicitly captures agreement, disagreement, and skepticism in online discourse. Validated across multiple platforms and contexts, the framework demonstrates improved predictive accuracy and offers actionable insights for policymakers, platform designers, and researchers seeking to manage polarized narratives and strengthen digital resilience.
COSMOS Research Takes Center Stage at the 59th HICSS 2026
At the 59th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS 2026), January 6-9, 2026. Maui, Hawai’i, COSMOS Research Center presented a strong portfolio of research advancing computational social science and AI. The four studies integrate social theory, behavioral modeling, and ethical reasoning into AI systems to better predict mob behavior, model narrative diffusion, detect toxic intent, and analyze media ecosystems. Two of these studies were nominated for Best Paper award. Collectively, this work emphasizes interpretable, theory-driven AI and reinforces COSMOS’s leadership in understanding complex digital and societal dynamics.
Research Spotlight: Developing Socio-Computational Approaches to Mitigate Harmful Behaviors in Social Networks
This edition featured three peer-reviewed studies addressing information diffusion, anomaly detection, and intervention strategies in complex networked systems. The research examined competing geopolitical narratives on Telegram using stance-based diffusion models, evaluated synthetic data generation to improve anomalous YouTube channel detection under data scarcity, and modeled toxicity-aware quarantine interventions for online moderation. Collectively, the studies demonstrate how mathematical modeling and data-driven methods can effectively analyze, predict, and mitigate harmful behavior in adversarial and resource-constrained digital environments.
New Hire: Atharvaa Rane, Data Engineer
COSMOS Research Center welcomes Atharvaa Rane as a new full-time Data Engineer. Atharvaa aims to contribute to the BlogTracker project by building scalable data pipelines, backend APIs, and AI-driven analytics. She was drawn to COSMOS for its interdisciplinary culture and real-world research impact and looks forward to developing interpretable, ethical, and production-ready systems that support large-scale social media analysis.