UA Little Rock receives another $5 million for online influence research
Dr. Nitin Agarwal, Maulden-Entergy Chair and Donaghey Distinguished Professor of Information Science at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, has received a $5 million research award from the U.S. Department of Defense to advance innovative approaches for protecting communities from online influence campaigns and other emerging cognitive threats.
The school has received funding in previous years for research in this field.
Agarwal’s project focuses on developing socio-computational methods to strengthen community resilience against cognitive attacks. These attacks include coordinated online efforts to manipulate beliefs, influence behavior, and spread harmful narratives through social media and digital platforms.
The research builds on nationally recognized work underway at UA Little Rock’s Collaboratorium for Social Media and Online Behavioral Studies (COSMOS) Research Center, which Agarwal founded and directs.
The COSMOS Research Center at UA Little Rock conducts interdisciplinary research focused on social computing, AI-enabled socio-cognitive threat mitigation, narrative analytics, online behavioral modeling, and cognitive security.
Agarwal said the funding will allow researchers to continue developing advanced tools and capabilities to better understand how online narratives influence behavior and how communities can build resilience against coordinated manipulation efforts.
“We are extremely grateful for the support from UA Little Rock leadership and U.S. Sen. John Boozman for championing this vital research,” Agarwal said. “This funding allows the COSMOS Research Center to continue advancing analytical capabilities that strengthen our nation’s defense against cognitive threats.”
The project will advance research in six key areas, including narrative and network modeling, toxicity in online communities, mob dynamics, churn analysis, contextual network characterization, and large-scale data collection and dashboarding.
Researchers will develop new methods to analyze how narratives emerge and evolve across digital ecosystems, examine how online communities amplify coordinated campaigns, and adapt epidemiological modeling techniques to better understand the spread of toxicity in online environments.
In addition to advancing research, the initiative will support workforce development and training opportunities in big data analytics, artificial intelligence, machine learning, and security applications, helping prepare the next generation of AI and cybersecurity professionals in Arkansas and beyond.