- University News Archive - ��Vlog��ý Little Rock

Seven ��Vlog��ý Little Rock Students Selected for Acxiom Diversity Scholarship Program

John Hill — Wed, 03 Aug 2022 12:58:45 +0000

Seven students from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock have been selected for this year’s Acxiom Diversity Scholarship program. , the customer intelligence company whose data-driven solutions create business growth by enabling better customer experiences, annually selects 10 college students for the program. The initiative offers $5,000 scholarships to full-time students from diverse backgrounds majoring in computer science, computer information systems, management information systems, information quality, information systems, engineering, mathematics, and statistics or related areas of study. “Acxiom is committed to providing an avenue for students from all backgrounds to pursue their dreams through computer science and information technology careers,” said Mary Ward, chief people officer at Acxiom. “In our increasingly global economy, building a diverse workforce leads to better innovation, culture, and outcomes for everyone.” This year’s Acxiom Diversity Scholarship recipients from ��Vlog��ý Little Rock and their majors include Oluwaseyi Adeliyi, information science; Abiola Sylvester Akinnubi, information science; Dayo Banjo, computer science; Mayor Gurung, information science; John Intifunie Nsaman, business information systems and analytics; Sodiq Oyedotun, business information systems and analytics; and Connice Trimmingham, computer science. “We are very thankful to the opportunities provided to our students by the Acxiom Diversity Scholarship,” said Dr. Elizabeth Pierce, chair of the Department of Information Science at ��Vlog��ý Little Rock. “This program not only helps to increase the diversity in the IT profession, it also helps to recruit and retain the next generation of talented, hard-working individuals who we’ll be counting on to solve critical data challenges.” Mayor Gurung, a graduate student from Kathmandu, Nepal, said she felt honored to be a recipient of the 2022 Acxiom Diversity Scholarship. “It’s an encouragement to do even better as it will finance my educational needs and fund my future research project,” Gurung said. “More importantly, it will push me as well as women in my community to dream big, we just have to take the initiative. I want to thank Acxiom for promoting diversity and making a difference.” Through this scholarship, Acxiom aims to create a more inclusive pipeline of future technology talent and help close the equity gap by providing access to education for individuals underrepresented in the field. Abiola Sylvester Akinnubi, who is pursuing a Ph.D. in computer and information science, said this experience will help him with his plans to mentor and help underprivileged and underrepresented students after he graduates. “I also believe this will motivate me to provide a leadership voice to people and help others continuously,” Akinnubi said. “As I return to the industry, I will be able to contribute using the knowledge and experience from my Ph.D. program in contributing to various technology roles that I find myself in the future. I am sure Acxiom will find me a worthy ambassador now and in the end.” With five of the Acxiom Diversity Scholarship recipients being members of ��Vlog��ý Little Rock’s Collaboratorium for Social Media and Online Behavioral Studies (COSMOS) Research Center, Dr. Nitin Agarwal, Maulden-Entergy chair and distinguished professor of information science and the founding director of COSMOS, expressed pride for his students’ accomplishments. “I am extremely proud of our students for receiving this honor!,” Agarwal said. “The Acxiom Diversity Scholarship program provides unique opportunities for our students to become next-generation leaders in developing data-driven solutions to challenging technical and societal issues.” The Acxiom Diversity Scholarship Program, now in its 10th year, also offers summer internships to willing recipients. Scholarship winners are selected based on their ability to demonstrate academic achievement, field of study, and professional interest related to Acxiom’s business needs. “Supporting the education of the next leaders in our industry is the most direct way we can effect change and encourage diversity within the computer science and information technology fields,” said Chad Engelgau, CEO of Acxiom. “We congratulate this year’s group of exceptional scholarship recipients and look forward to their educational achievements and career contributions in the years ahead.” Sodiq Oyedotun, a native of the Kwara state in Nigeria, said news of the program couldn’t have come at a better time. “It will help me pay my tuition, buy books, and certainly, I get to intern with Acxiom and have the opportunity to hone my skills,” Oyedotun said. “This will go a long way to shape my future career.”

��Vlog��ý Little Rock Awarded $165K Grant to Support Research Efforts to Monitor Cyber Warfare Tactics on Social Media

John Hill — Wed, 18 May 2022 13:18:05 +0000

Dr. Nitin Agarwal, Jerry L. Maulden-Entergy endowed chair and distinguished professor of information science at ��Vlog��ý Little Rock, has received a grant for $165,540 that will support research efforts to monitor cyber warfare tactics through social media. ��Vlog��ý Little Rock is one of 81 institutions across 35 states who received a total of through the Defense University Research Instrumentation Program (DURIP), a Department of Defense (DoD) initiative that supports purchases of major research equipment to augment current and develop new capabilities. “DURIP awards provide essential research infrastructure to enable the pursuit of new knowledge and help maintain cutting-edge capabilities of our universities,” said Dr. Bindu Nair, Director, Basic Research Office, Office of the Undersecretary of Defense for Research and Engineering. “The awards will sustain the scientific excellence of our universities, train the next generation of STEM workforce, and facilitate scientific advances that will drive unparalleled military capabilities for our country.” This effort enables universities to perform state-of-the-art research that boosts the United States’ technological edge, while ensuring that our future science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) workforce remains second to none. The highly competitive award program is administered through a merit competition jointly by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, Army Research Office, and Office of Naval Research. Agarwal, founding director of the (COSMOS) at ��Vlog��ý Little Rock, received the grant from the Department of Defense and the Office of Naval Research. The grant will provide equipment for a high-density, computational environment that will help scale up research efforts and support the , a monitoring tool for video-based social media platforms. The grant will provide COSMOS with a series of upgrades to the research center’s computational servers that will enable faster computation, more storage, and near real-time analysis of multimedia data from social media platforms. By supporting a data analytics bridge between various tools, the equipment will enable further discovery and analysis, data and knowledge exchange among stakeholders. COSMOS researchers specialize in analyzing deviant activities on social media, including the identification of influential actors, their strategies, and tactics. Some of this research includes disinformation campaigns in the Indo-Pacific region, COVID-19 discourse, and highly sophisticated organizational tactics by adversarial actors who use social media to conduct disinformation campaigns, provoke hysteria, radicalize, and coordinate nefarious acts. Studies examining adversarial information campaigns often focus on primarily text-based posts on social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook. The rapid growth in popularity of video-based platforms and the rampant mis/disinformation campaigns on them pose computational and scalability challenges for the researchers that the grant will address. “Due to inadequate computational resources, much of the research is conducted at a small scale, say, a few thousand videos,” Agarwal said. “However, one of the most popular video-based social media platforms, YouTube, receives more than 300 hours of videos in under one minute. Existing research methodologies need to be enhanced to meet the new information environment.” The problem is compounded by the rapid expansion of the social media landscape. Emerging non-mainstream and multimedia-rich platforms, such as TikTok, Parler, and Clubhouse, have become preferred choices for adversarial actors or groups to propagate hate speech and disinformation content that garners quick but substantial attention. This disinformation-riddled content often spills over to mainstream platforms.”

��Vlog��ý Little Rock Grad Named Assistant IT Director at University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture

John Hill — Tue, 17 May 2022 13:11:06 +0000

May has been a milestone month for Karen Watts DiCicco. The Bryant resident recently graduated from ��Vlog��ý Little with a Ph.D. in computer and information science and was promoted as the assistant director of information technology at the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture. Watts DiCicco is finishing up an educational journey that started 13 years ago. When she first joined ��Vlog��ý Little Rock in 2009, she was a single mother of two sons with special needs and found it difficult to go to school full time, work, and raise her kids. She made the difficult decision to leave school in 2010. Afterwards, she earned her cosmetology license and opened Artistik Salon, which catered to children and adults with special needs. It became a popular destination, and people often traveled from all over the state to visit the salon. Determined to finish her education, she returned to ��Vlog��ý Little Rock in 2016, earning her bachelor’s degree in 2018 and master’s degree in 2019. The same year the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture hired her as the division’s first digital and IT innovation manager, where she explored new and emerging technologies and how they can be implemented with Division of Agriculture applications. Now she will be taking on a new role this summer. “I will be staying with the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture in the IT department as the assistant director of information technology,” she said. “I will continue to bring recognition and funding to the organization. I feel my experience and knowledge will help lead us into the future.”

Photos of Karen Watts DiCicco by Benjamin Krain.

During her five years at the (COSMOS), she specialized in developing strategies to fight disinformation campaigns online using blockchain technology. Her dissertation, which she is planning to publish, followed the effects of toxicity in digital communities. “My dissertation looks at two different social media platforms, Parler versus Twitter, to see which platform is more toxic,” she said. “In my datasets, I found that Twitter was more toxic than Parler. We also look at the effects of toxicity with COVID-19 related information. We wanted to study if toxicity can break apart tight-knit digital communities.” This spring, Watts DiCicco received the Outstanding Doctoral Graduate Award and the Outstanding Academic Achievement Award in Information Science from the Donaghey College of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. Her advice for new students is to get involved in student organizations and take advantage of any opportunity you can find. “Take any opportunity that is given to you,” Watts DiCicco said. “Reach out if you want to join COSMOS. Try hackathons because I learned a lot at those. Get involved with student organizations. Talk to student ambassadors if you need help. Make the best of your education and reach out to your professors and the chair of your department. They are very knowledgeable.”

Talburt Recognized as Leading Data Academic Leader

John Hill — Tue, 15 Mar 2022 12:46:04 +0000

Dr. John Talburt has been recognized as one of the top academic data leaders of the year. CDO (Chief Data Officer) Magazine announced Talburt, professor of information science and Acxiom chair of information quality, as a member of its . “I feel very honored to be named to such a select group of individuals,” Talburt said. “I believe the reason I was named is primarily because ��Vlog��ý Little Rock was willing to take a chance in 2006, go against the normal academic trends, and establish a graduate program in information quality in collaboration with MIT. This has given our program great exposure and growing enrollments. I am happy that data has come into parity with programming and is no longer considered a second-class citizen in the world of information technology.” The Leading Data Academic Leaders List 2022 honors great academic leaders, introducing them on a global platform where they share their insights and work, highlighting their significant successes in the previous year, the challenges they faced, and their aspirations and goals for 2022. Talburt has been instrumental in building the Information Quality Graduate Program at ��Vlog��ý Little Rock. The program includes the graduate certificate in information quality, the M.S. in information quality, and the Ph.D. in integrated computing with an emphasis in information quality. At ��Vlog��ý Little Rock, he also serves as executive director of the Center for Advanced Research in Entity Resolution and Information Quality and coordinator of the Ph.D. program in computer and information sciences. “The information quality, information science, and computer science graduate programs are experiencing dramatic growth,” he said. “I believe the university’s future is in research and graduate studies. We will always have an obligation to serve our undergraduate students, but our future growth will come at the graduate level. We are already recognized as the leading institution in Information Quality graduate education.” U.S. News & World Report has ranked ��Vlog��ý Little Rock 19th in its ranking of in 2020, 2021, and 2022. Talburt first joined ��Vlog��ý Little Rock in 1983 as a professor in the newly formed Department of Computer Science, which he chaired from 1986-1993. He left the university in 1995 to lead a research and development unit at Acxiom, where he learned about the power and value of data. In 2005, Talburt returned to ��Vlog��ý Little Rock in the newly formed Information Science Department as the Acxiom Chair of Information Quality. “I believe the next big area of focus in IT will be around metadata, i.e., data describing other data,” Talburt said. “Well-curated and managed metadata will be the key to data process automation and the ability for organizations to exercise authority and control over their data assets. How can you effectively use your data to create value if you don’t know what data you have and what’s in it? This is the role of metadata, and I think it will be the next big area of research and development. The university is already involved in a major NSF grant investigating ways to automate data curation (processing) and data governance.” You can read the full article on .

��Vlog��ý Little Rock Online Graduate Programs Listed Among Nation’s Best by U.S. News and World Report For Third Year in a Row

John Hill — Tue, 25 Jan 2022 15:24:05 +0000

The University of Arkansas at Little Rock has been recognized as having some of the best online programs in computer information technology in the country. U.S. News & World Report ranked ��Vlog��ý Little Rock 19th in its 2022 ranking of “.” This ranking assesses online master’s degree programs in computer science, computer engineering, software engineering, information systems, and information technology. ��Vlog��ý Little Rock also earned the 19th spot in the 2020 and 2021 lists for U.S. News & World Report. “We are really gratified to make the list for the third year in a row. We know we need to keep improving every year to maintain our position on this very competitive list,” said Dr. Elizabeth Pierce, chair of the Department of Information Science, which houses both programs. “We take very seriously our ongoing efforts with the ��Vlog��ý Little Rock Graduate School, our program faculty, students, and alumni to find ways to make the educational experience associated with our programs as attractive, affordable, and high quality as possible.” At ��Vlog��ý Little Rock, the U.S. News ranking covers the online Master of Science in information quality and Master of Science in information science programs. Both degrees serve as a stepping stone for other advanced graduate degrees, such as ��Vlog��ý Little Rock’s Ph.D. in computer and information science. The online master’s degree in information science is a 33-hour program designed to familiarize individuals with the advanced knowledge, skills, and technologies for working with large amounts of complex data. Students learn how to compete in an industry with an ever-present demand for new innovations in data science and analytics, advanced information systems design and development, and emerging information technologies. “Enrollment in ��Vlog��ý Little Rock’s Master of Science in information science has been increasing as recognition of our program grows,” said Dr. Daniel Berleant, professor of information science and coordinator of the graduate program. “We are grateful to the many people here who have been so helpful. This includes staff members as well as other academic departments and their faculty who teach the great courses that many of our students have been taking as electives. We plan to continue building on our success at bringing in new students and gaining recognition for ��Vlog��ý Little Rock locally, nationally through the distance education option, and internationally.” The online master’s degree in information quality is a 33-hour program that can be completed in as little as 18 months. The program is designed to prepare students for industry and government careers as well as advanced doctoral studies. Developed with support from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Information Quality Program, the curriculum balances information quality theory with industry best practices using state-of-the-art technology. Dr. John Talburt, professor of information science and advisor of the Master of Science in information quality program, said that ��Vlog��ý Little Rock is seeing record enrollment in its information quality degree programs. He credits this success to quality online instruction, career preparation, and student diversity. “Both the information quality and information science programs offer students from diverse educational backgrounds a gateway into successful careers in data science, data analytics, and data management,” Talburt said. “Many entering students with non-technical undergraduate degrees come because they have had on-the-job experience with data and technology and want to be a part of the data revolution. No specific undergraduate degree is required for admission. The program also embraces cultural and gender diversity. While this has been a problem for many computer science and engineering programs, nearly one third of our student body are women and more than half are international students.” For the 2022 rankings edition, U.S. News evaluated schools on five categories, including engagement (25 percent), faculty credentials and training (25 percent), expert opinion (25 percent), service and technologies (12.5 percent), and student excellence (12.5 percent). A program’s score for each ranking indicator is calculated using data that the program reported to U.S. News in a statistical survey.

��Vlog��ý Little Rock to Host Cybersecurity Panel Discussion Oct. 21

John Hill — Fri, 15 Oct 2021 13:17:46 +0000

In celebration of National Cybersecurity Awareness Month, the University of Arkansas at Little Rock will hold a panel discussion with the top cybersecurity experts at the university. The panel will be held from 2-3 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 21, in Dickinson Hall Auditorium. Cybersecurity Awareness Month is a collaboration between the Department of Homeland Security and National Cyber Security Alliance. It was created to ensure individuals stay safe and secure online. ��Vlog��ý Little Rock’s cybersecurity panel will focus on the 2021 theme, “Do Your Part #BeCyberSmart.” The panelists will give a timely and informative discussion on how people can improve online security and share recent cybersecurity events that have occurred at ��Vlog��ý Little Rock. The panelists include Dr. Philip Huff, assistant professor of computer science, Dr. Nitin Agarwal, Jerry L. Maulden-Entergy endowed chair and distinguished professor of information science and director of the Collaboratorium for Social Media and Online Behavioral Studies (COSMOS), Dr. Thomas Bunton, chief information officer at ��Vlog��ý Little Rock, and Dr. Veysel Erdag, chief information security office at ��Vlog��ý Little Rock. Dr. Erin Finzer, associate vice chancellor for academic affairs, will serve as moderate.

Talburt, Wang named to 2021 List of Leading Academic Data Leaders

John Hill — Fri, 20 Aug 2021 13:14:02 +0000

Two professors from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock have been recognized as some of this year’s top academic data leaders in the U.S. and Canada. Chief Data Officer Magazine announced Dr. John Talburt, professor of information science and Acxiom chair of information quality, and Dr. Richard Wang, founder and executive director of the Institute for Chief Data Officers at ��Vlog��ý Little Rock and director of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Chief Data Officer and Information Quality Program at MIT, as members of its . “These outstanding academic professionals are leading the way with innovative ideas leveraging data and analytics,” Chief Data Officers (CDO) Magazine stated. “They are using their talents to provide true value and real world results. We are proud to highlight their accomplishments and want to be a catalyst to advance opportunities in the data and analytic field.” Talburt has been instrumental in building the Information Quality Graduate Program at ��Vlog��ý Little Rock. The program includes the graduate certificate in information quality, the M.S. in information quality, and the Ph.D. in integrated computing with an emphasis in information quality. He serves as the coordinator for Information Quality Graduate Programs and is the primary advisor for information quality graduate students.�� “It was a great honor for me to be listed along with so many other highly esteemed members of the academic community,” Talburt said. “My hope is I can enrich the education and training of the students in our Information Quality Graduate Program through the practical experience I have gained in working with Chief Data Officers and other data leaders in government and industry.” Wang is a pioneer and leader in the research and practice of chief data officers and has put the term information quality on the intellectual map with myriad publications. He has been instrumental in the establishment of the Ph.D. and Master of Science in information quality degree programs at ��Vlog��ý Little Rock, serving as a visiting professor of information quality from 2005 to 2009 at ��Vlog��ý Little Rock. In 2016, he founded the Institute for Chief Data Officers at ��Vlog��ý Little Rock. With the establishment of this institute, Wang is taking the CDO education to an unprecedented level of excellence and competency and has recently launched the first online fundamental course for chief data officers in the world. “It was a privilege to pioneer the Chief Data Officer field,” Wang said. “With the unreserved support from Dean Lawrence Whitman and Dr. Liz Pierce, I have launched the first online CDO Fundamental course in the world. My hope is to leverage this new online CDO course to recruit industry practitioners around the world to be admitted to the ��Vlog��ý Little Rock’s MSIQ/GC graduate program, to increase the visibility and reputation of ��Vlog��ý Little Rock, and overtime increase enrollment.”

Graduating Student Spotlight on Zachary Stine

John Hill — Thu, 27 May 2021 17:23:29 +0000

Zachary Stine, of Little Rock, is a spring 2021 graduate with a Ph.D. in computer and information science from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. As a member of the Collaboratorium for Social Media and Behavioral Studies (COSMOS), Stine has conducted research on computational social science, machine learning, natural language processing, cultural analytics, digital humanities, and network science. Stine will work in COSMOS as a postdoctoral fellow next year while he continues his research and mentors students. His ultimate goal is to enter academia as a professor of computer or information science. He completed a bachelor’s degree in religious studies and a minor in English from the University of Central Arkansas in 2010. Since then, he has worked at a health insurance company, an environmental consulting firm, and at ��Vlog��ý Little Rock’s Office of Institutional Research before becoming a doctoral student. Stine said people often wonder how he went from a bachelor’s degree in religious studies to his current field. “It has been a very indirect path with a lot of twists and turns,” Stine said. “When I graduated in 2010, I was just starting to hear things about artificial intelligence and machine learning. I thought there is no better way to learn about these things than to start taking computer science courses. I was lucky because I worked for a company that reimbursed you for any undergraduate college course you were taking. I got hooked and kept going.” By 2017, Stine had been taking computer science courses part-time for five years at ��Vlog��ý Little Rock when he decided to take the plunge and turn his part-time academic pursuit into a doctorate. “I left behind a stable job to become a full-time graduate assistant,” Stine said. “It was a little scary, but it’s worked out.” Through his work at COSMOS, Stine has studied complex social systems, machine learning, natural language processing, network science, and information theory. He already has eight papers published in academic conference proceedings and a journal. He even developed his own course on natural language processing that he taught during the fall 2020 semester. Some of his research has included a study to determine how effective artificial agents, which are often used in online disinformation campaigns, can be at changing people’s opinions online.

Zack Stine is doing research on the of type of common language used across cultures in online religious discussions. Photo by Ben Krain.

Stine was also accepted into the 2019-2021 (Humanities, Arts, Science, and Technology Alliance and Collaboratory) Scholars Program, a student-driven community of graduate and undergraduate students who are working at the intersection of technology and the arts, humanities and sciences.�� While he’s led an interesting career path, Stine has come full circle and found a way to blend his love of religious studies and information science through his dissertation. In his dissertation, “Computational Methods for Comparative Discourse Analyses,” Stine used computational text analysis and information theory to compare the underlying structure of discourses in several online discussion communities. He compared discourses from several online religious communities to determine if there are universal features across discourses. “I have been able to collaborate on interdisciplinary research with a scholar of philosophy and religion who was my undergraduate mentor many years ago,” Stine said. “As part of my research, we are using computational models to study how people talk about religion. It’s been a nonlinear path, but it all makes sense now.”

International Student Seun Johnson Earns Master’s Degree and New Career at Intuit

John Hill — Wed, 12 May 2021 16:54:23 +0000

After traveling from Nigeria to earn a graduate degree at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, Oluwaseun “Seun” Johnson is graduating this month with a master’s degree in information science and a new career at Intuit, Inc.�� Johnson will begin his new job as a software engineer with Intuit in June and will be moving to Mountain View, California, where the company’s headquarters are located, later this year. “I feel happy that I am graduating,” Johnson said. “When I look back to when I first came to ��Vlog��ý Little Rock, I feel like I’ve achieved a lot. I have a good portfolio and a new job, and I am happy.” A native of Lagos, Nigeria, Johnson received his bachelor’s degree in industrial physics and applied geophysics from Covenant University in Nigeria. He learned about ��Vlog��ý Little Rock through a friend who was studying abroad. At the time, Johnson was working as a data scientist for Petrodata Management Services Limited in Lagos and has a background in data mining, data visualization, and software development. “My friend told me about ��Vlog��ý Little Rock and all the opportunities here, and I thought I could be a good fit for the Information Science Program,” Johnson said. “I found Dr. Nitin Agarwal in the Information Science department, and I told him about my interests and showed him what I was working on.” Johnson moved to Little Rock in 2019 and has put his skills to work at COSMOS (Collaboratorium for Social Media and Online Behavioral Studies) with Dr. Agarwal, Maulden-Entergy Endowed Chair and Distinguished Professor of Information Science, who said he is extremely proud of Johnson’s accomplishments. “Despite the unique challenges presented by COVID-19, our students continue to demonstrate resolve and resilience,” Agarwal said. “Our students come from different parts of the world. Many belong to minority and underrepresented groups in STEM disciplines – a cause that COSMOS champions and celebrates. They join COSMOS to hone their skills, develop solutions for real-world problems that contribute to social good and innovation, and transform into thought leaders.” At COSMOS, Johnson worked as one of the lead developers of the Blogtrackers tool that helps COSMOS conduct discourse analysis and event analysis on blogs, including assessment of misinformation and fake news. “The COSMOS team gave me the opportunity to learn new things and to build myself as a software engineer,” he said. “I enjoyed meeting new people in Little Rock and learning things from new people all over the world.”�� Last year, Johnson was one of three students selected for the third annual Grad Cohort for Underrepresented Minorities and Persons with Disabilities Workshop by the Computing Research Association. The prestigious workshop brings together students and industry professionals from around the country to prepare graduate students for careers in the computer science industry. During summer 2020, Johnson worked as a data science intern at Windstream Holdings. He created an automated workflow for text mapping/cross referencing for data migration and created an automated workflow for tracking and updating projects using Python. Johnson recently completed his master’s project, “Optimizing Data Ingestion and Retrieval for Narrative Analysis Using Parallel Pools and Elastic Research.” The project solves the problem of slow data ingestion and retrieval for the narrative analysis page on the Blogtrackers web application.�� “When storing big data on any storage platform, it is not unusual to encounter performance issues as the ingested data can dramatically impact the performance and usefulness of a data lake,” he said. “A proper data ingestion mechanism should optimize storage for analytic performance, which is often best done upon ingestion. This process will also avoid data loss and redundancies when processing streams of data.”

��Vlog��ý Little Rock online graduate programs listed among the nation’s best by U.S. News and World Report

John Hill — Tue, 26 Jan 2021 22:37:00 +0000

The University of Arkansas at Little Rock has been recognized as having some of the best online programs in computer information technology in the country. U.S. News & World Report ranked ��Vlog��ý Little Rock 19th in its 2021 ranking of “Best Online Graduate Computer Information Technology Programs.”�� “Our university continuously encourages innovative academic programming to help students and faculty achieve academic success,” said Dr. David Montague, executive director of online learning and faculty mentoring. “This significant accomplishment in these prestigious academic rankings demonstrates commitment to academic excellence, optimal functionality, accessibility, innovation, universal inclusion, and user-friendly education.” This ranking assesses online master’s degree programs in computer science, computer engineering, software engineering, information systems, and information technology. For ��Vlog��ý Little Rock, this ranking includes the online Master of Science in information quality and Master of Science in information science programs. ��Vlog��ý Little Rock also ranked 19th in the 2020 U.S. News list. “We are really gratified to make the list again this year. The online degree market has become very competitive,” said Dr. Elizabeth Pierce, chair of the Department of Information Science, which houses both programs. “There are a lot of good schools offering good web-based degrees so we need to keep improving what we offer each year in order to stay a competitor.” The online master’s degree in information quality is a 33-hour program that can be completed in as little as 18 months. The program is designed to prepare students for industry and government careers as well as advanced doctoral studies. Developed with support from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Information Quality Program, the curriculum balances information quality theory with industry best practices using state-of-the-art technology. “The Information Quality Graduate Program was launched in 2006, and it’s the only graduate program in the U.S. devoted to the study of data governance and data quality management issues,” Pierce said. “The program is attracting a lot of attention from the chief data officers community due to the strong synergy between this program’s curriculum and the need for chief data officers to ensure their organization has trusted data that is available when needed.” The online master’s degree in information science is a 33-hour program designed to familiarize individuals with the advanced knowledge, skills, and technologies for working with large amounts of complex data. Students learn how to compete in an industry with an ever-present demand for new innovations in data science and analytics, advanced information systems design and development, and emerging information technologies. Both degrees serve as a stepping stone for other advanced graduate degrees, such as ��Vlog��ý Little Rock’s Ph.D. in computer and information science. For the 2021 rankings edition, U.S. News evaluated schools on five categories, including engagement, faculty credentials and training, expert opinion, service and technologies, and student excellence. Dr. Nitin Agarwal, Jerry L. Maulden-Entergy endowed chair and distinguished professor of information science who teaches online courses in the graduate programs, said the professors work hard to meet the challenges of online students.�� “Online students face a variety of challenges,” Agarwal said. “Aside from technological challenges, online students�� miss peer-experience, engagement and participation during asynchronous classes, instant access to instructors and on-campus resources. We recognize these limitations of online education and make a concerted effort to improve students’ learning experience.”�� Pierce said that the success of the online programs is driven by several factors, including the use of innovative online technologies to deliver a live classroom webcast from video classrooms in the Donaghey College of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics, skilled instructors, and support from ��Vlog��ý Little Rock. “In our programs, we have worked hard to improve the delivery of the online learning experience,” Pierce said. “We encourage students as much as possible to take their classes synchronously online to get as much interactive engagement with their instructors as if they were physically on campus. In addition though, we do offer students the flexibility to view the recorded sessions anytime their schedules do not permit them to join the live session at the given time. The other part of the equation is the quality of the program’s instructors and course content. In addition to our regular graduate faculty, we recruit highly qualified individuals from industry to teach specialized content so that our students can get the best combination of real world experiences coupled with sound academic principles.” Two of the information science professors who teach for the graduate programs, Dr. John Talburt and Dr. Richard Wang, were recently named to Chief Data Officer Magazine’s 2021 .

- University News Archive - ����Vlog��ý Little Rock

Seven ����Vlog��ý Little Rock Students Selected for Acxiom Diversity Scholarship Program

����Vlog��ý Little Rock Awarded $165K Grant to Support Research Efforts to Monitor Cyber Warfare Tactics on Social Media

����Vlog��ý Little Rock Grad Named Assistant IT Director at University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture