Department of Information Science
Donaghey College of STEM
Department of Information Science
Donaghey College of STEM
Faculty Fellow, International Computer Science Institute
University of California, Berkeley
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Donaghey College of STEM
Affiliations and Current Work
Affiliations and Current Work
I am the Jerry L. Maulden-Entergy Chair & Donaghey Distinguished Professor of Information Science at the University of Arkansas – Little Rock. I am the founding director of the Collaboratorium for Social Media and Online Behavioral Studies (COSMOS) Research Center. I am also a faculty fellow at the International Computer Science Institute at the University of California, Berkeley.
I am the Jerry L. Maulden-Entergy Chair & Donaghey Distinguished Professor of Information Science at the University of Arkansas – Little Rock. I am the founding director of the Collaboratorium for Social Media and Online Behavioral Studies (COSMOS) Research Center. I am also a faculty fellow at the International Computer Science Institute at the University of California, Berkeley.
I joined the faculty of Information Science at UALR in Fall 2009. My research aims to push the boundaries of our understanding of emerging socio-cognitive behaviors that evolve in modern information and communication platforms. At COSMOS, I am leading projects with a total direct funding of over $30 million from an array of U.S. federal agencies, including the Department of War (Army, Navy, Air Force), DARPA, Department of State, and National Science Foundation. I play a significant role in the long-term partnership between UA Little Rock and the Department of Homeland Security. I have developed publicly available social media analysis tools (Blogtracker, VideoTracker, and COVID-19 Scam Tracker) that have assisted NATO Strategic Communications and Public Affairs, European Defense agencies, the Australian Defense Science and Technology agency’s strategic policy group, the Singapore government, and the Arkansas Attorney General’s office, among others. I serve on the Arkansas AI Task Force, appointed by Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders. I participate in the National Tech Innovation Hub, launched by the U.S. Department of State, to counter foreign-based adversarial influence campaigns.
I joined the faculty of Information Science at UALR in Fall 2009. My research aims to push the boundaries of our understanding of emerging socio-cognitive behaviors that evolve in modern information and communication platforms. At COSMOS, I am leading projects with a total direct funding of over $30 million from an array of U.S. federal agencies, including the Department of War (Army, Navy, Air Force), DARPA, Department of State, and National Science Foundation. I play a significant role in the long-term partnership between UA Little Rock and the Department of Homeland Security. I have developed publicly available social media analysis tools (Blogtracker, VideoTracker, and COVID-19 Scam Tracker) that have assisted NATO Strategic Communications and Public Affairs, European Defense agencies, the Australian Defense Science and Technology agency’s strategic policy group, the Singapore government, and the Arkansas Attorney General’s office, among others. I serve on the Arkansas AI Task Force, appointed by Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders. I participate in the National Tech Innovation Hub, launched by the U.S. Department of State, to counter foreign-based adversarial influence campaigns.
Research, Publications, and Media
Research, Publications, and Media
My research contributions lie at the intersection of social computing, behavior-cultural modeling, collective action, cognitive threat analysis, social cyber forensics, Artificial Intelligence, data mining, machine learning, smart health, and privacy. From Saudi Arabian women's right-to-drive campaigns to Autism awareness campaigns to ISIS' propaganda/recruitment campaigns to anti-West/anti-NATO influence campaigns to COVID-19 scams to digital manipulation campaigns around the world, at COSMOS, I am leading several projects that have made foundational and translational contributions to social and computational sciences, particularly in understanding coordinated and multimedia-rich adversarial information campaigns to counter cognitive threats. I have published 12 books and over 400 articles in top-tier, peer-reviewed forums, garnering over 6,300 citations. These publications include NATO’s Defense StratCom Journal, Army University Press, CANSOFCOM’s Future Conflict journal, and Baltic Security, among others. He has received 29 best paper awards and several nominations. His most recent book, published by Springer in its series on cybersecurity, explores deviant social behaviors on the Internet. Local, national, and international media outlets, including Bloomberg, U.S. News, KUAR, Arkansas Business, Arkansas Times, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, and many others, have covered his work. Over the last several years, I have spoken at various public and professional, national and international forums such as NATO’s StratCom COE (Riga, Latvia), DARPA, US Department of State, US Naval Space and Warfare (SPAWAR), US Pentagon’s Strategic Multilevel Assessment groups, US National Academies of Sciences Engineering and Medicine, US Office of the Director of National Intelligence, Sweden’s Defense Agency (FOI), Facebook Asia Pacific HQ, Twitter Asia Pacific HQ, US Embassy in Singapore, Singapore Ministry of Communication and Information, Singapore Ministry of Defense, NATO Senior Leadership meetings, USIP, among others. I serve as a technical advisor to Little Rock-based firms, including those participating in the FinTech Accelerator.
My research contributions lie at the intersection of social computing, behavior-cultural modeling, collective action, cognitive threat analysis, social cyber forensics, Artificial Intelligence, data mining, machine learning, smart health, and privacy. From Saudi Arabian women's right-to-drive campaigns to Autism awareness campaigns to ISIS' propaganda/recruitment campaigns to anti-West/anti-NATO influence campaigns to COVID-19 scams to digital manipulation campaigns around the world, at COSMOS, I am leading several projects that have made foundational and translational contributions to social and computational sciences, particularly in understanding coordinated and multimedia-rich adversarial information campaigns to counter cognitive threats. I have published 12 books and over 400 articles in top-tier, peer-reviewed forums, garnering over 6,300 citations. These publications include NATO’s Defense StratCom Journal, Army University Press, CANSOFCOM’s Future Conflict journal, and Baltic Security, among others. He has received 29 best paper awards and several nominations. His most recent book, published by Springer in its series on cybersecurity, explores deviant social behaviors on the Internet. Local, national, and international media outlets, including Bloomberg, U.S. News, KUAR, Arkansas Business, Arkansas Times, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, and many others, have covered his work. Over the last several years, I have spoken at various public and professional, national and international forums such as NATO’s StratCom COE (Riga, Latvia), DARPA, US Department of State, US Naval Space and Warfare (SPAWAR), US Pentagon’s Strategic Multilevel Assessment groups, US National Academies of Sciences Engineering and Medicine, US Office of the Director of National Intelligence, Sweden’s Defense Agency (FOI), Facebook Asia Pacific HQ, Twitter Asia Pacific HQ, US Embassy in Singapore, Singapore Ministry of Communication and Information, Singapore Ministry of Defense, NATO Senior Leadership meetings, USIP, among others. I serve as a technical advisor to Little Rock-based firms, including those participating in the FinTech Accelerator.
Academic Journey and Accomplishments
Academic Journey and Accomplishments
I received my Ph.D. in Computer Science from the School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence, Arizona State University, with outstanding dissertation recognition in 2009. I received my bachelor's in technology in information technology from the Indian Institute of Information Technology in May 2003. I was recognized as one of 'The New Influentials: 20 In Their 20s' by Arkansas Business in 2012. I was recognized with the University-wide Faculty Excellence Award in Research and Creative Endeavors by UALR in 2015 and 2021. I received the Social Media Educator of the Year Award at the 21st International Education and Technology Conference in 2015. In 2017, the Arkansas Times featured me in their special issue on "Visionary Arkansans”. I was nominated as an International Academy, Research and Industry Association (IARIA) Fellow in 2017, an Arkansas Academy of Computing (AAoC) Fellow in 2018, and an Arkansas Research Alliance (ARA) Fellow in 2018. In 2021, my research was recognized as one of the top 10 solutions for “Countering Cognitive Warfare: The invisible Threat” by NATO’s Innovation Hub out of 132 teams from the 30 NATO member nations. In 2022, my COVID-19 Scam tracker was recognized by the World Health Organization (WHO) as one of the key technological innovations globally to address the COVID-19 pandemic. IEEE, the world’s premier electrical and electronic engineering professional organization, recognized me as a senior member in 2022. IEEE recognized me with the lifetime honor of Distinguished Visitor in 2026.
I received my Ph.D. in Computer Science from the School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence, Arizona State University, with outstanding dissertation recognition in 2009. I received my bachelor's in technology in information technology from the Indian Institute of Information Technology in May 2003. I was recognized as one of 'The New Influentials: 20 In Their 20s' by Arkansas Business in 2012. I was recognized with the University-wide Faculty Excellence Award in Research and Creative Endeavors by UALR in 2015 and 2021. I received the Social Media Educator of the Year Award at the 21st International Education and Technology Conference in 2015. In 2017, the Arkansas Times featured me in their special issue on "Visionary Arkansans”. I was nominated as an International Academy, Research and Industry Association (IARIA) Fellow in 2017, an Arkansas Academy of Computing (AAoC) Fellow in 2018, and an Arkansas Research Alliance (ARA) Fellow in 2018. In 2021, my research was recognized as one of the top 10 solutions for “Countering Cognitive Warfare: The invisible Threat” by NATO’s Innovation Hub out of 132 teams from the 30 NATO member nations. In 2022, my COVID-19 Scam tracker was recognized by the World Health Organization (WHO) as one of the key technological innovations globally to address the COVID-19 pandemic. IEEE, the world’s premier electrical and electronic engineering professional organization, recognized me as a senior member in 2022. IEEE recognized me with the lifetime honor of Distinguished Visitor in 2026.
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