Position: Postdoctoral Fellow
| AR State Title: | COSMOS – Postdoctoral Fellow |
| Requisition Number: | R0054354 |
| Department: | COSMOS Research Center |
| Salary Range: | $48,000 – $110,697 |
| FLSA Status: | Exempt |
Position Summary:
The Postdoctoral Fellow will develop socio-computational models to advance our understanding of cyber campaigns run on social media grounded in the dynamics of various social and communication processes such as group formation, activation, decentralized decision making, and collective action. Leveraging cyber forensics and deep web search-based methodologies, the Postdoctoral Fellow will help extract relevant open-source information in a guided snowball data collection manner.
The Postdoctoral Fellow will work with the research team in developing predictive models of various socio-technical behaviors on different social media platforms (including, multimedia-rich platforms), usable tools/software to identify key actors and key groups responsible for coordinating cyber campaigns and disseminating propaganda. Position reports to Dr. Nitin Agarwal (nxagarwal@ualr.edu), Maulden-Entergy Endowed Chair and Distinguished Professor and Director, COSMOS Research Center, UA-Little Rock. This is an on-campus position. This position is governed by state and federal laws, and agency/institution policy.
Required Education and/or Experience:
- The candidate must have a Ph.D. degree in Computer Science, Information Science, or a related discipline.
Preferred Education and/or Experience:
- The candidate should have extensive research experience in social media mining, computational modeling of social science theories, working with social network analysis tools, and examining cyber campaigns conducted on social media;
- A candidate with experience in computer programming and data management will be given preference.
Job Duties and Responsibilities:
- Assist with social media analysis for the research projects, hypothesis generation and testing for understanding cyber behaviors, data collection, analyzing findings from the data, writing research findings, and presenting the research at conferences, scientific venues, program reviews, and other venues;
- Write software modules transitioning research to tool;
- Assist with multimedia-rich online information environment analysis;
- Help with training the stakeholders on research and tools;
- Mentor and monitor graduate and undergraduate students working on the project – an experience that will help the person prepare for a successful academic career afterwards;
- Assist in preparing reports and publications;
- Assist in preparing reports and publications;
- Assist in grant writing;
- Coordinate meetings and lead discussion;
- Record minutes of the meetings; and
- Other tasks as asked.
Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:
- Extensive knowledge of computational social science and social network analysis;
- Expertise with social media data mining, machine learning, NLP, AI;
- Research experience with examining cyber campaigns run on social media;
- Research experience with examining video-based social media;
- Experience with transitioning research into usable tools;
- Computer programming skills and data management skills;
- Ability to interact with people of diverse cultural backgrounds;
- Communication skills, writing skills, and public speaking
- Effective organizational skills.
Position: Data Engineer
| AR State Title: | COSMOS – Data Engineer |
| Requisition Number: | R0054564 |
| Department: | COSMOS Research Center |
| Salary Range: | $35,568 – $96,120 |
| FLSA Status: | Exempt |
Position Summary:
The Data Engineer position is a full-time position at the COSMOS Research Center (cosmos.ualr.edu). The Data Engineer will be responsible for collecting, managing, and converting raw data into usable information for analytics and decision-making. This role requires comprehensive data analysis skills, developing and maintaining datasets, and improving data quality and efficiency through leveraging data systems and pipelines, interpreting trends and patterns of data, complex data reports, and building algorithms and prototypes. In addition, the other responsibilities include leading the development of social media data collection pipelines, inference methods and infrastructure, classification methods and infrastructure, and visualization dashboards.
The Data Engineer will collaborate with researchers, participate in research projects, and interact with other developers at the COSMOS research center and partner organizations to achieve the best possible performance metrics across various projects. Excellent communication and problem-solving skills are essential for this on-campus position as the data engineer’s role is to find opportunities to contribute to cutting-edge research in the exciting field of social computing. Position reports to Dr. Nitin Agarwal (nxagarwal@ualr.edu), Maulden-Entergy Endowed Chair and Distinguished Professor and Director, COSMOS Research Center, UA-Little Rock. This position is governed by state and federal laws, and agency/institution policy.
Required Education and/or Experience:
- The candidate must have a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Science, or a related discipline.
Preferred Education and/or Experience:
- Having a Master’s or a Ph.D. degree in Computer Science, Information Science, or a related discipline is a plus;
- Having a data engineer certification (e.g., IBM Certified Data Engineer) is a plus;
- A candidate with prior experience in data engineering and data management roles in social media data will be given preference.
Job Duties and Responsibilities:
- Collecting and analyzing raw data from various sources including social media platforms;
- Organize and maintaining datasets;
- Improving data quality and efficiency;
- Design and manage data pipelines that encompass the journey of data from source to destination systems;
- Setup and manage the infrastructure required for ingestion, processing, and storage of data that will help the person prepare for a successful academic career afterwards;
- Evaluate the model needs and objectives;
- Interpret trends and patterns of data;
- Conduct complex data analysis and report on results;
- Prepare data for analysis and reporting by transforming and cleansing it;
- Combine raw information from different sources;
- Explore ways to enhance data quality and reliability;
- Identify opportunities for data acquisition;
- Develop analytical tools and programs;
- Collaborate with teams at COSMOS on several projects;
- Other tasks as asked.
Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:
- Technical expertise in data models, data pipelines, ETL processes, data stores, data mining, and segmentation techniques;
- Excellent knowledge of programming/scripting languages (e.g., Java and Python);
- Experience with data integration platforms and SQL database design;
- Great numerical, analytical, and data security skills;
- Degree in Computer Science, IT, or a similar field; a Master’s is a plus;
- Data engineering certification (e.g., IBM Certified Data Engineer) is a plus;
- Prior experience as a data engineer or in a similar role is a plus.
Position: ML /AI Researcher
| AR State Title: | COSMOS – Graduate Research Assistant (ML/AI) |
| Requisition Number: | R0053896 |
| Department: | COSMOS Research Center |
| Salary Range: | $1,500 monthly stipend |
| Benefits: | Tuition support for up to 9 credit hours and Health insurance support up to $400 in Fall and Spring semester, each. |
| FLSA Status: | Exempt |
Position Summary:
The Graduate Research Assistant will develop machine learning and artificial intelligence (ML/AI)- driven socio-computational models to analyze social media data, particularly video-based social media data. Analysis will include (but not limited to) content analysis and network analysis. Content will include text, multimedia, and metadata. The Graduate Research Assistant will work with the research team to develop predictive models of socio-technical behaviors and identify key actors and key groups responsible for coordinating cyber campaigns.
This is an on-campus position. Position reports to Dr. Nitin Agarwal (nxagarwal@ualr.edu), Maulden- Entergy Endowed Chair and Distinguished Professor and Director, COSMOS Research Center, UA-Little Rock. This position is governed by state and federal laws, and agency/institution policy.
Required Education and/or Experience:
- Bachelor’s Degree from an accredited institution of higher education;
- Regular admission to a graduate degree program or good standing with the Graduate School for continuing graduate students;
- Ability to work the required hours (FT-50% – 20 hours per week/PT-25% – 10 hours per week) with regular attendance.
Preferred Education and/or Experience:
- The candidate must have a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Science, or a related discipline;
- A candidate with experience in computer programming and data management will be given preference;
- Knowledge of computational social science and social network analysis;
- Experience with graph theory and graphic libraries such as Gephi or NetworkX;
- Experience with crawling web data;
- Familiar with UNIX-based systems such as Linux.
Job Duties and Responsibilities:
- Conduct research applying machine learning and AI methods to social media data;
- Assist with video-based online information environment analysis;
- Assist with data collection, cleaning, preprocessing, analyzing findings from the data, writing research findings, and presenting the research at conferences, scientific venues, program reviews, and other venues;
- Assist in preparing reports and publications;
- Coordinate meetings and lead discussions;
- Other tasks as needed.
Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:
- Extensive knowledge of R or Python, including data analysis and graphing libraries such as Pandas, Matplotlib, Plotly, as well as ML libraries such as SK-Learn, TensorFlow;
- Experience with machine learning techniques and models such as classifiers, transformers, clustering, etc.;
- Knowledge of DB systems and SQL language;
- Ability to interact with people of diverse ethnic backgrounds;
- Communication skills, writing skills, and public speaking;
- Effective organizational skills.
Position: Developer
| AR State Title: | COSMOS – Graduate Research Assistant (Developer) |
| Requisition Number: | R0053891 |
| Department: | COSMOS Research Center |
| Salary Range: | $1,500 monthly stipend |
| Benefits: | Tuition support for up to 9 credit hours and Health insurance support up to $400 in Fall and Spring semester, each. |
| FLSA Status: | Exempt |
Position Summary:
The Graduate Research Assistant will transition socio-computational models to usable tools. The Graduate Research Assistant will work with the research team in transitioning predictive models of socio-technical behaviors on a variety of social media platforms (particularly, video-based platforms) to usable tools/software to identify key actors and key groups.
This is an on-campus position. This position reports to Dr. Nitin Agarwal (nxagarwal@ualr.edu), Maulden- Entergy Endowed Chair and Distinguished Professor and Director, COSMOS Research Center, UA-Little Rock. This position is governed by state and federal laws, and agency/institution policy.
Required Education and/or Experience:
- Bachelor’s Degree from an accredited institution of higher education;
- Regular admission to a graduate degree program or good standing with the Graduate School for continuing graduate students;
- Ability to work the required hours (FT-50% – 20 hours per week/PT-25% – 10 hours per week) with regular attendance.
Preferred Education and/or Experience:
- The candidate must have a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Science, or a related discipline;
- A candidate with experience in computer programming and data management will be given preference;
- Knowledge of computational social science and social network analysis;
- Experience with machine learning techniques and models such as classifiers, transformers, clustering, etc.;
- Experience with graph theory and graphic libraries such as Gephi or NetworkX;
- Familiar with UNIX-based systems such as Linux.
Job Duties and Responsibilities:
- Contribute to software development for transitioning research to publicly available web tools;
- Assist in preparing reports and publications;
- Coordinate meetings and lead discussions;
- Other tasks as needed.
Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:
- Extensive knowledge of Java or Python, including data analysis and graphing libraries such as Pandas, Matplotlib, Plotly;
- Familiar with MVC architecture;
- Familiar with Javascript or related frameworks (Node, React, …);
- Familiar with HTML DOM and CSS;
- Knowledge of DB systems and SQL language;
- Ability to interact with people of diverse ethnic backgrounds;
- Communication skills, writing skills, and public speaking;
- Effective organizational skills.
Position: UI/UX
| AR State Title: | COSMOS – Graduate Research Assistant (UI/UX) |
| Requisition Number: | R0053901 |
| Department: | COSMOS Research Center |
| Salary Range: | $1,500 monthly stipend |
| Benefits: | Tuition support for up to 9 credit hours and Health insurance support up to $400 in Fall and Spring semester, each. |
| FLSA Status: | Exempt |
Position Summary:
The Graduate Research Assistant will contribute to the design and development of UI/UX for web apps, the maintenance of websites, and design of miscellaneous branding items such as social media, presentation slides, or event products such as posters, leaflets, business cards, etc. The Graduate Research Assistant will support ongoing research by running basic analysis, collecting data, or performing non-technical research such as literature surveys or reports on technical solutions and best practices.
This is an on-campus position. Position reports to Dr. Nitin Agarwal (nxagarwal@ualr.edu), Maulden- Entergy Endowed Chair and Distinguished Professor and Director, COSMOS Research Center, UA-Little Rock. This position is governed by state and federal laws, and agency/institution policy.
Required Education and/or Experience:
- Bachelor’s Degree from an accredited institution of higher education;
- Regular admission to a graduate degree program or good standing with the Graduate School for continuing graduate students;
- Ability to work the required hours (FT-50% – 20 hours per week/PT-25% – 10 hours per week) with regular attendance.
Preferred Education and/or Experience:
- The candidate must have a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Science, or a related discipline;
- The candidate should be familiar with popular social media platforms, and keep abreast of latest tools and technologies;
- A candidate with experience in visual arts, designing, and computer programming will be given preference.
Job Duties and Responsibilities:
- Assist with social media analysis for the research projects, hypothesis generation and evaluation for understanding cyber behaviors, data collection, cleaning, preprocessing, analyzing findings from the data, writing research findings, and presenting the research at conferences, scientific venues, program reviews, and other venues;
- Produce traditional or digital sketches of UI models based on business requirements;
- Produce static web pages based on sketches & requirements;
- Implement front-end behaviors for web pages;
- Produce visual and/or written content for website articles or social media posts;
- Other tasks as needed.
Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:
- Extensive knowledge of of HTML/CSS;
- Good experience with VS Code;
- Knowledge of Google Chrome Developer Tools;
- Experience with code versioning like GitHub;
- Extensive knowledge of the Adobe CC Suite including but not limited to Adobe XD, Illustrator, Photoshop, InDesign, & Lightroom, or Figma;
- Knowledge of JavaScript and ability to implement dynamic behaviors in web pages (ReactJS is a plus);
- Proficiency with the Office Suite including but not limited to Microsoft Excel, Word, & PowerPoint;
- Experience with transmitting skills and knowledge;
- Ability to interact with people of diverse ethnic backgrounds;
- Communication skills, writing skills, and public speaking;
- Effective organizational skills.
Position: Researcher
| AR State Title: | COSMOS – Graduate Research Assistant (Researcher) |
| Requisition Number: | R0053889 |
| Department: | COSMOS Research Center |
| Salary Range: | $1,500 monthly stipend |
| Benefits: | Tuition support for up to 9 credit hours and Health insurance support up to $400 in Fall and Spring semester, each. |
| FLSA Status: | Exempt |
Position Summary:
The Graduate Research Assistant will help develop socio-computational models to advance our understanding of coordinated cyber campaigns grounded in the dynamics of various social and communication processes such as group formation, activation, decentralized decision-making, and collective action. The Graduate Research Assistant will help operationalize the developed socio- computational models on a variety of social media platforms (particularly, video-based platforms).
This is an on-campus position. Position reports to Dr. Nitin Agarwal (nxagarwal@ualr.edu), Maulden- Entergy Endowed Chair and Distinguished Professor and Director, COSMOS Research Center, UA-Little Rock. This position is governed by state and federal laws, and agency/institution policy.
Required Education and/or Experience:
- Bachelor’s Degree from an accredited institution of higher education;
- Regular admission to a graduate degree program or good standing with the Graduate School for continuing graduate students;
- Ability to work the required hours (FT-50% – 20 hours per week/PT-25% – 10 hours per week) with regular attendance.
Preferred Education and/or Experience:
- The candidate must have a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Science, Mathematics, Social Science, or a relevant discipline;
- A candidate with experience in computer programming and data management will be given preference.
Job Duties and Responsibilities:
- Assist with literature survey;
- Assist with hypothesis generation, theoretical evaluation, model development, operationalization, and evaluation;
- Assist with data collection, cleaning, preprocessing, and analyzing findings from the data;
- Assist in preparing reports and publications;
- Coordinate meetings and lead discussions;
- Other tasks as needed.
Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:
- Experience with data analysis – Microsoft Suite will be considered but preference is given to candidates with programming experience;
- Experience in reporting and technical writing;
- Experience in research, including previous publications, reviewing scholarly articles, etc.;
- Experience in social media mining, computational modeling of social science theories, working with social network analysis tools, and examining cyber campaigns conducted on social media;
- Intermediate knowledge of Python;
- Knowledge of DB systems and SQL language;
- Ability to interact with people of diverse ethnic backgrounds;
- Communication skills, writing skills, and public speaking;
- Effective organizational skills.
Position: Extra Help
| AR State Title: | COSMOS – Extra Help Assistant III |
| Requisition Number: | R0054349 |
| Department: | COSMOS Research Center |
| Salary Range: | $20.00 – $25.00 / hour |
| FLSA Status: | Non-Exempt |
Position Summary:
The Extra Help Assistant will help develop socio-computational models to advance our understanding of cyber campaigns run on social media grounded in the dynamics of various social and communication processes such as group formation, activation, decentralized decision making, and collective action. The Extra Help Assistant will aid with cyber forensics and deep web search-based methodologies, to assist with extracting relevant open-source information in a guided snowball data collection manner. The Extra Help Assistant will work with the research team to support development of predictive models of deviant socio-technical behaviors on a various social media platform (particularly, video-based platforms) to identify key actors and key groups responsible for coordinating cyber campaigns and disseminating propaganda.
This is an on-campus position. Position reports to Dr. Nitin Agarwal (nxagarwal@ualr.edu), Maulden- Entergy Endowed Chair and Distinguished Professor and Director, COSMOS Research Center, UA-Little Rock. This position is governed by state and federal laws, and agency/institution policy.
Required Education and/or Experience:
- The candidate must have a Ph.D. degree in Computer Science, Information Science, Systems Engineering or a related discipline.
Preferred Education and/or Experience:
- The candidate should have extensive research experience in social media mining, computational modeling of social science theories, working with social network analysis tools, and examining cyber campaigns conducted on social media;
- A candidate with experience in operational research, optimization tools, information theory, multiplex networks analysis, computer programming, and data management will be given preference.
Job Duties and Responsibilities:
- Assist with social media analysis for the research projects, such as hypothesis generation and evaluation for understanding cyber behaviors, data collection, cleaning, preprocessing, analyzing findings from the data, for preparation with drafting research findings for conferences, and scientific venues;
- Write software modules transitioning research to tool;
- Assist with online information environment analysis;
- Provide inputs for conduction of training stakeholders on research and tools;
- Mentor/monitor graduate/undergraduate students working on the project – an experience that will aid in student development to prepare/continue a successful academic career afterward;
- Assist in preparing reports and publications;
- Other tasks as needed.
Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:
- Extensive knowledge of computational social science and social network analysis;
- Extensive knowledge of intensive groups analysis on social network;
- Extensive knowledge of operational research;
- Extensive knowledge of systems thinking analysis;
- Extensive knowledge of computational complex network analysis;
- Extensive knowledge of online/offline environment analysis;
- Extensive knowledge and expertise with social media mining and cyber forensics;
- Research experience in Game theories and decision making;
- Research experience with decomposition optimization analysis;
- Research experience with agent-based modeling;
- Research experience with multiplex network analysis;
- Research experience with information theory;
- Research experience with control theory and feedback analysis in social media;
- Research experience with dynamic network analysis;
- Research experience with examining cyber campaigns run on social media;
- Research experience with examining contexts on social media;
- Experience with transitioning research into usable tools;
- Computer programming skills and data management skills;
- Ability to interact with people of diverse ethnic backgrounds;
- Communication skills, writing skills, and public speaking;
- Effective organizational skills.
Position: Extra Help
| AR State Title: | COSMOS – Extra Help Assistant |
| Requisition Number: | R0054348 |
| Department: | COSMOS Research Center |
| Salary Range: | $15.00 – $20.00 / hour |
| FLSA Status: | Non-Exempt |
Position Summary:
The Extra Help Assistant will help develop socio-computational models to advance our understanding of cyber campaigns run on social media grounded in the dynamics of various social and communication processes such as group formation, activation, decentralized decision making, and collective action. The Extra Help Assistant will work with the research team in developing predictive models of deviant socio-technical behaviors on a variety of social media platforms and help develop usable tools/software to identify key actors and key groups responsible for coordinating cyber campaigns and disseminating propaganda.
This is an on-campus position. Position reports to Dr. Nitin Agarwal (nxagarwal@ualr.edu), Maulden- Entergy Endowed Chair and Distinguished Professor and Director, COSMOS Research Center, UA-Little Rock. This position is governed by state and federal laws, and agency/institution policy.
Required Education and/or Experience:
- The candidate must have a Master’s degree from an accredited institution of higher learning.
Preferred Education and/or Experience:
- A candidate with research experience in social media mining, computational modeling of social science theories, social network analysis tools, and examining cyber campaigns conducted on social media will be given preference;
- A candidate with experience in computer programming and data management will be given preference.
Job Duties and Responsibilities:
- Assist with social media analysis for the research projects, hypothesis generation and evaluation for understanding cyber behaviors, data collection, cleaning, preprocessing, analyzing findings from the data, writing research findings, and presenting the research at conferences, scientific venues, program reviews, and other venues;
- Contribute to software development for transitioning research to publicly available web tools;
- Assist in preparing reports and publications;
- Assist with data collection, cleaning, preprocessing, and analyzing findings from the data;
- Produce visual and/or written content for website articles or social media posts;
- Coordinate meetings and lead discussions;
- Other tasks as needed.
Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:
- Experience with programming and web development or Experience in UIUX/web design and illustration or Experience with ML-based research or Experience in research and data analysis
- Ability to interact with people of diverse ethnic backgrounds;
- Familiar with Javascript or related frameworks (Node, React, …);
- Knowledge of DB systems and SQL language;
- Proficiency with the Office Suite including but not limited to Microsoft Excel, Word, & PowerPoint;
- Communication skills, writing skills, and public speaking;
- Effective organizational skills.
Position: Extra Help
| AR State Title: | COSMOS – Extra Help Assistant |
| Requisition Number: | R0054346 |
| Department: | COSMOS Research Center |
| Salary Range: | $11.00 – $15.00 / hour |
| FLSA Status: | Non-Exempt |
The Extra Help Assistant will help develop socio-computational models to advance our understanding of cyber campaigns run on social media grounded in the dynamics of various social and communication processes such as group formation, activation, decentralized decision making, and collective action. The Extra Help Assistant will work with the research team in developing predictive models of deviant socio-technical behaviors on a variety of social media platforms.
This is an on-campus position. Position reports to Dr. Nitin Agarwal (nxagarwal@ualr.edu), Maulden- Entergy Endowed Chair and Distinguished Professor and Director, COSMOS Research Center, UA-Little Rock. This position is governed by state and federal laws, and agency/institution policy.
Required Education and/or Experience:
- Must have a Bachelor’s degree from an accredited institution of higher learning.
Preferred Education and/or Experience:
- A candidate with experience in social media mining, computational modeling of social science theories, social network analysis tools, and examining cyber campaigns conducted on social media will be given preference;
- A candidate with experience in computer programming and data management will be given preference.
Job Duties and Responsibilities:
- Assist with social media analysis for the research projects, hypothesis generation and evaluation for understanding cyber behaviors, data collection, cleaning, preprocessing, analyzing findings from the data, writing research findings, and presenting the research at conferences, scientific venues, program reviews, and other venues;
- Contribute to research and development;
- Assist in preparing reports and publications;
- Coordinate meetings and lead discussions;
- Other tasks as needed.
Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:
- Experience with programming and web development or Experience in UIUX/web design and illustration or Experience with ML-based research or Experience in research and data analysis
- Ability to interact with people of diverse ethnic backgrounds;
- Communication skills, writing skills, and public speaking;
- Effective organizational skills.