Karen DiCicco successfully defended her master’s thesis “Blockchain Applications in Agriculture” Tuesday, November 19, 2019.  In attendance were committee members Dr. Nitin Agarwal (chair), Dr. Elizabeth Pierce, and Dr. Ningning Wu as well as members of COSMOS.  In December 2018, Karen graduated with her bachelor’s degree and Graduate Certificate in Data Science.  She will continue her research on blockchain applications as a University of Arkansas at Little Rock Information Science PhD student this Spring.    For more information about the Information Science programs offered, please visit https://ualr.edu/informationscience/. Read More →

On Thursday, April 18, students showcased their work at the Student Research and Creative Works Expo and EIT Open House. Guests viewed displays of capstone projects, theses, dissertations, and other research. COSMOS was well-presented by Kiran Kumar Bandeli, Nihal Hussain, Thomas Marcoux, Billy Spann, Richard Young, Michael DiCicco, Tuja Khaund, Karen Watts, Zachary Stine, and Adewale Obadimu who showcased their work. Our team members were presented with numerous awards at the 2019 Student Research and Creative Works Expo Awards Ceremony and the EIT Open House Awards Ceremony: Student Research and Creative Works Expo – First Place: Zachary Stine Student Research and Creative Works Expo – SecondRead More →

Innovative ideas paired with the newest technology is an ideal match made right here in Little Rock, Arkansas. The ideas stem from Karen Watts, a COSMOS researcher and the new digital and innovation manager for the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture. She is using synergistic technology to improve farming. “I love learning about emerging technologies and I get to learn the newest technologies every day,” said Watts who draws similarities between her job and hackathons. “I look to see what works, develop a proof of concept and prototype the new technology for us. It’s going to put us ahead in innovation.” Watts hasRead More →

Karen Watts has been named to the Fall 2018 Chancellor’s List at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock for her superior academic performance. To be eligible for the Chancellor’s List, students must earn at least nine credit hours and at least a 3.9 grade point average. Students must not have D, F, I or “no credit” grades on their semester grade reports. Karen graduated in December 2018 with her bachelor’s degree and Graduate Certificate in Data Science.  After graduating with her master’s degree in Information Science in December 2019, Karen plans to continue being a COSMOS team member while earning her Ph.D. in computer and information scienceRead More →

This week, Cosmographer Karen Watts successfully defended her Capstone II project.  She developed the Employee Website for Internal Operational Information for the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture Cooperative Extension Service. When Karen started working on the new website, the existing UAEX.edu site was not user-friendly for all audiences. Extension employees, one of UAEX’s largest audiences, found the site confusing and had a hard time finding content because it had been designed with external clientele in mind. “Separating employee content into its own website was necessary to streamline employee user experience so they could find internal resources more quickly and efficiently,” said Karen Watts, an Information ScienceRead More →

COSMOS team members Karen Watts and Michael DiCicco have made winning hackathons a hobby of sorts. On September 29th, 2018, Karen and Michael along with Brenda Nyangweso formed a team named sudoIntellectual that went up against 21other teams at the UA Blockchain Hackathon and emerged as winners of the J.B. Hunt Use Case challenge. Blockchain technology is the biggest buzzword in the recent times. It rose to prominence in 2009 as the technology that underpins bitcoin. Blockchain is a public ledger for every transaction that might take place between two or more parties. Today, there is a growing interest in making use of this distributed,Read More →

My name is Michael DiCicco. I’m a junior here at UA Little Rock majoring in Information Science, a Technical Assistant at the UA Division of Agriculture Cooperative Extension Service, and a Research Assistant at COSMOS.  What little spare time I have is spent traveling around the country participating in 24-hour long competitions called “hackathons”. Not that kind of hack, think lifehack + marathon. The hackathons I participate in are generally sponsored by the company Major League Hacking, and their current schedules are posted on their website https://mlh.io.  MLH hackathons are really great because they accommodate participants of all skill levels. They are catered offering deliciousRead More →

The George W. Donaghey College of Engineering and Information Technology hosted its third annual Open House on Friday, April 27. Guests viewed student displays of capstone projects, theses, dissertations, and other research. COSMOS was well-presented by Tuja Khaund, Karen Watts and Adewale Obadimu who showcased their work and were presented with numerous awards: 1st Place Complete Solution: Tuja Khaund 2nd Professional Presentation: Karen Watts 2nd Place EIT Grad Award: Adewale Obadimu 3rd Place Arkansas Research Alliance: Adewale Obadimu      Read More →

Two University of Arkansas at Little Rock students are looking to make a name for themselves in the world of hackathons.  Michael DiCicco, sophomore information science major from Benton, and Karen Watts, senior information science major from Bryant, took home a big win as first place winners of CrimsonHacks, a Major League Hacking event held April 14-15 at the University of Alabama. DiCicco and Watts, working in conjunction with two students from the University of Alabama and Florida Institute of Technology, beat out 28 other teams for the top prize, a 3D printer, for their project, Tweety Wallet. They also won the Best Use of AmazonRead More →