UA Little Rock Names College Level Faculty Excellence Award Winners in Research and Creative Works
The University of Arkansas at Little Rock has named three faculty members as college-level recipients of the Faculty Excellence Award for Research or Creative Works, recognizing outstanding contributions to scholarship and creative activity.
Each academic college can select one faculty member for the honor. The college recipients will be recognized during the UA Little Rock Faculty Excellence Awards on Thursday, April 2, when the university-wide recipient will also be announced, which is sponsored by Jaafer Golzar.
The 2026 recipients are Dr. Nitin Agarwal of the Donaghey College of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics; Dr. Michael Underwood of the College of Humanities, Arts, Social Sciences, and Education; and Joshua M. Silverstein of the William H. Bowen School of Law.
Dr. Nitin Agarwal
Donaghey College of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics
Dr. Nitin Agarwal, the Jerry L. Maulden-Entergy Endowed Chair and Donaghey Distinguished Professor of Information Science, is internationally recognized for his research in social computing, artificial intelligence, and cognitive security.
Since joining UA Little Rock in 2009, Agarwal has built an interdisciplinary research program that examines how information spreads across online networks and how digital influence campaigns shape public perception. He founded the Collaboratorium for Social Media and Online Behavioral Studies (COSMOS), an interdisciplinary research center dedicated to understanding evolving social and cyber behaviors on modern information platforms.
“Understanding how digital information ecosystems influence society is one of the defining challenges of our time,” Agarwal said. “I’m fortunate to work alongside talented students and colleagues who are committed to advancing knowledge and developing solutions that strengthen communities and institutions.”
Over the past five years, Agarwal has secured more than $60 million in federal funding, including grants from the National Science Foundation, DARPA, and the U.S. Department of War (Army, Navy, Air Force), with nearly $30 million directly supporting UA Little Rock research initiatives.
His collaborations span more than 200 researchers across 130 academic, government, and industry organizations worldwide. His research is published widely including 12 books and over 400 articles in top-tier international journals and conferences that have been recognized with 26 best paper awards to date.
His research has also produced widely used tools for analyzing digital information ecosystems, including systems designed to identify adversarial information/influence campaigns and online scams. These tools are recognized globally as top tools and used by organizations such as NATO, the U.S. Department of War, and the World Health Organization. Recognizing the profound contributions of his AI research to the society, he is nominated to serve on the Arkansas AI task force established by Governor Sarah Sanders.
Dr. Michael Underwood
College of Humanities, Arts, Social Sciences, and Education
Dr. Michael Underwood, instructor of music in the School of Literary and Performing Arts, has dedicated decades of research and creative work to rediscovering the music of Ann Giffels, a composer whose works had largely disappeared from the historical record.
Through extensive archival research, musical transcription, and performance collaborations, Underwood has brought numerous compositions by Giffels back into public awareness. His work has resulted in new performances, recordings, and scholarly attention to the composer’s contributions to 20th-century music.
“Research often reveals stories and voices that might otherwise remain hidden,” Underwood said. “Introducing Ann Giffels’s music into the repertoire has been an incredibly fulfilling journey. It’s rewarding to see students and musicians share her work with new audiences.”
Among his most significant achievements is the recovery and recording of “The Invisible Choir,” a large-scale orchestral and choral work composed during Giffels’s graduate studies at Indiana University. Underwood transcribed the long-unheard score and collaborated with UA Little Rock musicians, community performers, and local Arkansas symphony musicians to bring the piece back to life more than 70 years after it was written.
His work has uncovered nearly a dozen previously unknown compositions and helped reintroduce Giffels’s music to performers and scholars, expanding the repertoire and highlighting the contributions of a largely overlooked composer.
Joshua M. Silverstein
William H. Bowen School of Law
Joshua M. Silverstein, professor of law at the William H. Bowen School of Law, is recognized for his extensive scholarship in business law, and legal education theory.
Silverstein has produced a substantial body of scholarship addressing complex issues in commercial law. His law review articles, many exceeding 80 pages, offer comprehensive examinations of topics such as contract interpretation, empirical legal methods, and bankruptcy law.
“Legal scholarship plays an important role in clarifying complex issues and strengthening the institutions that shape our justice system,” Silverstein said. “It’s an honor to contribute to these conversations and to be part of a community that values thoughtful inquiry.”
His research has influenced legal debate in courts and academic literature. One of his bankruptcy articles was cited in briefs submitted to the U.S. Supreme Court in the 2024 Purdue Pharma case and then was cited by four Justices of the Court itself in the opinion resolving the matter.
In addition to his articles, Silverstein recently became a co-author of “Problems in Contract Law: Cases and Materials,” the most widely used casebook in contracts law education.