Office of the US Senator John Boozman visits COSMOS
COSMOS recently had the privilege to host representatives from U.S. Senator John Boozman’s office for a tour and briefing led by Director Prof. Nitin Agarwal. Brian Rohauer and Joshua Mullinax engaged with COSMOS researchers to learn about the center’s cutting-edge work in social computing, AI, and cognitive warfare. The visit highlighted COSMOS’s collaborations with federal and international partners to combat cognitive threats and strengthen national security. It also underscored the importance of academic-public engagement in translating research into real-world impact.
Prof. Agarwal Speaks at CRA’s Visioning Workshop on AI’s Challenges and Opportunities for Citizen Science
Prof. Nitin Agarwal, Director of COSMOS, was invited to the CRA’s visioning workshop, where he spoke on “Cognitive Security Challenges and Opportunities to Computational Citizen Science.” His talk discussed the challenges and opportunities posed by AI for citizen science, and how the ongoing research can contribute to detecting and mitigating cognitive threats by enhancing community resilience. COSMOS’ participation reflected the center’s growing influence in computational social science and its commitment to advancing public-good applications of computing research.
From Graduation to Beyond: Spring 2025 Success Stories
COSMOS is happy to announce the graduation of several Cosmographers this Spring 2025! We interviewed the graduates about their journeys and what the future holds for them. This edition of the newsletter shares the story of one of our graduated students, Diwash Poudel, who graduated with a master’s in computer science and worked as a graduate research assistant at the COSMOS Research Center. Learn more about Diwash’s next adventures. Subsequent editions will share other student stories. Subsequent editions will share other student stories.
COSMOS presents Research on Narrative Contagion at BeyondFacts’25 in Sydney
At the 2025 BeyondFacts workshop co-located with the 34th ACM International Web Conference 2025 in Sydney, COSMOS presented a novel epidemiological model to analyze a polarized information environment. Unlike traditional models, the proposed model incorporates user stance (agreement or disagreement) into epidemiological categories. This approach more accurately measures information contagion, offering insights into how stance affects exposure, skepticism, and infection in digital discourse.
Research Spotlight: AI, Bias, and Information Campaigns
In this month’s research spotlight, we highlight recent research from COSMOS that focuses on using AI to label data; in particular, these two studies each used AI to make sense of and understand data, allowing the scalability of methods usually limited by manpower. These studies were published and presented recently at the 2025 Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS) conference, which took place from January 7 to 10, 2025, at Big Island, Hawaii.
Cosmographer Corner: Dr. Amit Saha, Associate Professor of Data Science, Wake Forest University
Dr. Amit Saha, a former cosmographer, is now an associate professor and clinical data scientist at Wake Forest School of Medicine. Dr. Saha worked with Prof. Agarwal to develop algorithms to measure social support in autism communities online. They published several research studies and a book on this topic. Their work earned awards and visibility, shaping Dr. Saha’s career in healthcare analytics, teaching, and interdisciplinary research.
Hot Off the Press: A Survey of Social Network Analysis Tools
Our latest study, published in Springer’s Social Network Analysis and Mining journal, compares five top social network analysis tools—NetworkX, RustworkX, Igraph, EasyGraph, and Graph-tool—on performance and community engagement. Results reveal key tradeoffs between speed, efficiency, scalability, and usability, helping researchers and developers choose the best tool for their specific network analysis needs.