Dr. Nitin Agarwal, Jerry L. Maulden-Entergy endowed chair and distinguished professor of information science and director of the Collaboratorium for Social Media and Online Behavioral Studies (COSMOS) at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, will be featured in a Jan. 29 discussion of science and discovery with the Arkansas Research Alliance (ARA). 

The ARA Project Scope Session with Dr. Agarwal will begin at 11 a.m. Friday, Jan. 29. The event is free and open to the public. Those who would like to attend may register online at the following link. 

“Dr. Agarwal is an ARA Academy member who has made incredible strides in helping us all better understand our cyber social behaviors,” said ARA President Jerry Adams. “His work truly has global impact.”

As the founder and director of COMOS, Dr. Agarwal’s primary research interests are in social computing, (deviant) behavior modeling, studying group dynamics, influence, trust, collective action, social-cyber forensics, health informatics, data mining and privacy aims to be at the vanguard of the ever-evolving online behaviors. His research has applications in defense and security, health, business and marketing, finance and education. 

“In this talk, I will discuss COSMOS’ efforts in research, development, and education to advance our understanding of social behaviors on cyber platforms,” Agarwal said. “The work is multinational and multidisciplinary with applications to businesses, health, governance and policy making, matters of national defense and homeland security, strategic global affairs, among other areas. The work is supported by NSF, U.S. defense agencies (Army, Navy, Air Force, DARPA), Entergy Corporation, and Arkansas Research Alliance. We are extremely grateful for the support.” 

The ARA Project Scope invites members of the ARA Academy of Scholars and Fellows to share their science in a presentation and discussion that shines a spotlight on the incredible research in Arkansas. The ARA Academy is comprised of talented researchers from University of Arkansas, the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, Arkansas State University, UA Little Rock, the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS), and the U.S. FDA National Center for Toxicological Research (NCTR).