COSMOS – Postdoctoral Fellow IV

University of Arkansas • Little Rock, AR

7d • Onsite

About The Position

The Postdoctoral Fellow position is a full-time, provisional position with the COSMOS Research Center (cosmos.ualr.edu) at the University of Arkansas and is funded through a grant or contract. The position renewal is contingent upon continued grant funding and satisfactory job performance. Postdoctoral Fellow will develop socio-computational models to advance our understanding of cyber campaigns run on social media, grounded in the dynamics of various social and communication processes such as group formation, activation, decentralized decision-making, and collective action. The Postdoctoral Fellow will help extract relevant open-source information in a guided snowball data collection manner by leveraging cyber forensics and deep web search-based methodologies. Postdoctoral Fellow will work with the research team in developing predictive models of various socio-technical behaviors on different social media platforms (including multimedia-rich platforms), and usable tools/software to identify key actors and key groups responsible for coordinating cyber campaigns and disseminating propaganda. This is an on-campus position. This position is governed by state and federal laws, and agency/institution policy.

Requirements

• Ph.D. degree in Computer Science, Information Science, or a related discipline
• 4+ years of research experience in social media mining, computational modeling of social science theories, working with social network analysis tools, and examining cyber campaigns conducted on social media
• Research experience must be demonstrated through published research articles in leading journals and conferences relevant to the topics mentioned above
• 3+ years of experience in grant writing and management
• Grant writing experience must be demonstrated through a successful grant acquisition and management record
• Expert in data analysis, modeling, machine learning, and AI, using Python and SQL, with extensive experience in libraries and frameworks such as Pandas, NumPy, scikit-learn, Gensim, BERTopic, TensorFlow, PyTorch, and LLMs
• Expert in data visualization using Matplotlib, Seaborn, and ggplot2, and experienced in managing research projects with tools like Git/GitHub, ClickUp, and Jupyter Notebooks
• Expert in NLP, text mining, and graph analytics, including the use of NLTK, spaCy, TextBlob, VADER, and transformer-based models (e.g., BERT, GPT)
• Expert in social network analysis (SNA) using NetworkX, igraph, and Gephi for complex network and graph-based data exploration
• Successful research grant writing and management record for federal (e.g., NSF, DoD, NIH) and state (e.g., ARA) funding agencies and foundations
• Expert in computational social science and social network analysis
• Demonstrated expertise in social media mining and analysis of cyber campaigns
• Extensive experience in studying multimedia-rich social media platforms and their impacts
• Expert in qualitative data collection and analysis techniques
• Proven ability to transition research into practical, user-oriented tools
• Strong programming skills and experience with data management and analysis tools
• Excellent interpersonal skills, with the ability to work effectively with individuals from diverse disciplinary backgrounds
• Superior written and verbal communication skills, including public speaking, technical writing, and collaborative communication
• Experience supervising and mentoring student researchers and managing team dynamics
• Excellent organizational and project management skills with the ability to prioritize tasks and meet multiple deadlines
• Ability to work independently and collaboratively within interdisciplinary research teams

Nice To Haves

• Extensive research experience in computer programming and data management
• Successful grant-writing experience and a strong publication record

Responsibilities

• Prepare, submit, and manage multiple grants for extramural funding
• Manage multiple projects (e.g., setting and tracking deadlines and progress of team members, providing reports to the supervisor)
• Lead project meetings, including agenda setting and minute-taking
• Provide oversight for complex or multi-faceted research projects and help shape strategic direction
• Contribute to the conceptualization and development of new research project ideas
• Expand the collaboration network and partnerships with the Center
• Conduct social media analysis to support research projects, including hypothesis generation, behavioral evaluation, data collection, cleaning, preprocessing, and analysis
• Analyze multimedia-rich content within online information environments
• Document and communicate research findings through reports, publications, and presentations at conferences, scientific venues, program reviews, and other professional settings
• Develop and implement software modules to transition research outcomes into practical tools
• Train stakeholders in the use and application of research methodologies and developed tools
• Mentor and oversee graduate students involved in research, supporting their development and gaining valuable academic leadership experience
• Perform other duties and provide additional support as assigned

Benefits

• Benefits Eligible

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Entry Level
• Education Level: Ph.D. or professional degree