Prof. Nitin Agarwal invited to talk at NSF Workshop on AI & Digital Health
Prof. Nitin Agarwal, Founding Director of the COSMOS Research Center and Maulden-Entergy Chair at UA Little Rock, delivered an invited talk titled “AI + Social Computing for Mitigating Cognitive Threats” at the 2025 NSF Workshop on AI and Digital Health, hosted by West Virginia University. He discussed how AI and social computing can counter manipulative information campaigns that erode trust and decision-making, emphasizing ethical, transparent, and resilient AI systems. His address highlighted COSMOS’s leadership in advancing research on AI, digital health, and cognitive security.
Research Spotlight: Modeling Anomalous Behaviors, Narrative Spread, and Toxicity Contagion in Social Networks at ASONAM 2025
At the 17th International Conference on Advances in Social Networks Analysis and Mining (ASONAM 2025) in Canada, COSMOS presented ten groundbreaking studies that advance research on information diffusion, online communities, and digital toxicity. Three featured works introduced innovative frameworks: analyzing commenter behavior to detect anomalous behavior on YouTube, modeling the spread of competing narratives using stance-based epidemiology, and simulating toxicity propagation through weighted network structures. Collectively, these studies highlight COSMOS’s leadership in computational social science, integrating behavioral analytics, epidemiological modeling, and network science to address challenges in digital ecosystems to build a safer and more resilient online environment.”
Hot off the Press: Constructing A Multi-Theoretical Framework for Mob Modeling
The Journal of Social Network Analysis and Mining (SNAM) published “Constructing a Multi-Theoretical Framework for Mob Modeling” (2025), a COSMOS–Creighton University collaboration integrating five social theories with computational modeling to explain how mobs form and evolve in digital and physical spaces. By formalizing 39 logic-based rules, the study enables simulation of mobilization dynamics and early detection of collective behavior. This work exemplifies COSMOS’s mission to merge theory and technology for understanding and mitigating digital-era mobilization.
Seven COSMOS Studies Presented at SBP-BRiMS 2025
“Seven research studies from COSMOS were presented at the 18th International Conference on Social Computing, Behavioral-Cultural Modeling & Prediction (SBP-BRiMS 2025) at Carnegie Mellon University. Covering topics such as trust, recommender networks, generational toxicity, symbolic communication, and conflict-driven narratives, these works exemplify COSMOS’s leadership in computational social science. Prof. Nitin Agarwal’s continued contributions to SBP-BRiMS and support for emerging researchers underscore our mission of advancing data science for social good. We are incredibly grateful to the U.S. Department of Defense for supporting this effort!”
New Hire: Praveen Sundar, Data Engineer
COSMOS welcomes Praveen Sundar as its new full-time Data Engineer. With a Master’s in Electrical Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania, Praveen brings expertise in AI-driven data pipelines, cloud infrastructure, and knowledge graph systems. He is passionate about advancing COSMOS’s mission of social computing for social good and aims to build hybrid retrieval systems integrating AI and knowledge graphs. Praveen values COSMOS’s collaborative culture and looks forward to transforming innovative research into real-world, trustworthy data-driven tools.
Cosmographer Corner: Ugochukwu Onyepunuka, Data Engineer, Amazon
“In this edition of Cosmographer Corner, COSMOS spotlights alumnus Ugochukwu Onyepunuka, now a Data Engineer at Amazon. A former graduate research assistant at COSMOS Research Center, Ugo contributed significantly to COSMOS’s data ingestion pipeline and to evaluating bias in social media recommender systems. He credits COSMOS and Dr. Agarwal’s mentorship for shaping his technical, research, and professional skills. Ugo emphasizes COSMOS’s collaborative environment and advises current researchers to embrace challenges, build connections, and fully engage in interdisciplinary opportunities.”