COSMOS – Postdoctoral Fellow IV

University of Arkansas System•Little Rock, AR

9d•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. The position reports to Prof. Nitin Agarwal ([email protected]), Maulden-Entergy Endowed Chair & Donaghey Distinguished Professor, and Director, COSMOS Research Center at UA-Little Rock.

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. The 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