The award comes from appropriations language authored by passed into law in 2024. The funding is administered by the Office of National Drug Control Policy.

鈥淚 was proud to secure critical funding for the Opioid Prevention Project because we all agree it can make a tremendous difference in this fight,鈥� Boozman said. 鈥溙切腣log传媒 Little Rock MidSOUTH is ideally positioned to leverage this investment. With its expansive network and partnerships, it will enhance abuse and prevention education efforts and target a population at risk of falling victim to opioid abuse and its devastating consequences, which will benefit the entire state.鈥�

The Arkansas Youth Drug-Use Reduction Program will be led by , a training and education community service unit of the College of Business, Health, and Human Services at 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock, in partnership with national experts, state and local agencies, and community stakeholders.

The initiative aims to conduct a statewide assessment and develop an evidence-based, Arkansas-specific curriculum designed to educate young people about the dangers of drug use. MidSOUTH was awarded this significant funding due to its proven leadership in drug abuse prevention and training across Arkansas, making it a trusted partner in statewide efforts to combat substance abuse.

鈥淎s we face the challenges of opioid misuse, it鈥檚 vital to engage our youth in meaningful conversations about prevention and awareness,鈥� said Greg Smith, co-director of MidSOUTH. 鈥淭he funding will help educate youth about what opioids are and the risks associated with their use. Knowledge is our first line of defense. Our goal is to work together with law enforcement, educators, community prevention agencies, and other stakeholders to foster a safe environment where our youth can thrive and make choices that promote their well-being.鈥�

The program aims to reach 100,000 youth within its first year, with plans to expand as the curriculum is implemented. MidSOUTH鈥檚 collaboration with experts and state agencies will ensure that the campaign effectively addresses the unique needs of Arkansas communities and fosters long-term prevention efforts.

鈥溙切腣log传媒 Little Rock is honored to participate in the fight against the opioid crisis and to support the health and well-being of Arkansas鈥檚 youth,鈥� 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock Chancellor Christina S. Drale said. 鈥淭his investment will enable us to work alongside national experts and state leaders to implement a comprehensive prevention program that will provide young people with the knowledge and resources to make positive choices, strengthening the future of our communities. We are grateful to Sen. Boozman for his continued support, and to the dedicated MidSOUTH staff for their leadership in this critical initiative.鈥�

This funding will also provide drug neutralizing agents to citizens to assist in the safe disposal of household medications to keep them out of the hands of youth. An educational campaign will complement the curriculum, broadening its reach to communities across Arkansas. Television and social media advertisements will raise awareness among young people about the dangers of drug use, while also providing parents with guidance on how to discuss drug prevention with their children.

鈥淎n important part to drug abuse prevention is peer prevention,鈥� Smith said. 鈥淵outh need to be able to recognize peer pressure and feel confident saying no to drug use and surround themselves with friends who respect their choices and values. We are working to build evidence-informed curriculums for youth to share what they learn with their peers. By speaking out, they can help create a culture of awareness and support in their schools. Together, we can empower them with knowledge and tools to make informed choices.鈥�

Effective drug prevention and education programs can help save lives by delaying the onset of drug and opioid use and reducing overdose deaths. Fentanyl, a synthetic opioid, is now the No. 1 cause of overdose deaths in Arkansas. Of the 47,695 Arkansas students in grades 6, 8, 10, and 12 who participated in the 2023 Arkansas Prevention Needs Assessment, 21.2% have used alcohol, 16.5% have tried drugs, 15.3% have vaped, 9.2% have used marijuana, and 4.2% have used prescription drugs.

“Programs like this are critical for reaching our young people at a time when the opioid crisis continues to devastate families and communities,” Smith said. “This partnership will give Arkansas youth the tools and knowledge they need to make healthy decisions and stay on the right path.”

The curriculum and training materials created from this funding will be provided at no cost to school districts, law enforcement agencies, nonprofits, and other stakeholders. If you are interested in the curriculum, please contact April Null, Arkansas Youth Drug-Use Reduction Program coordinator, at acnull@midsouth.ualr.edu or 501-891-2964.

Funding for this initiative was made possible by Congressionally Directed Spending appropriated to the Office of National Drug Control Policy (Grant No. CDS9924G0018-00). The views expressed herein do not necessarily state or reflect the views of the United States Congress or the Office of National Drug Control Policy.

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The Army Research Office is a directorate of the .

The project, set to run through 2025, aims to identify research gaps in deviant socio-technical behaviors, shape an agenda focused on developing strategies that can counter emerging threats, and create tools for near real-time analysis of such threats.

鈥淣arratives on social media could be easily weaponized and propagated at frighteningly fast speeds,鈥� Agarwal said. 鈥淪uch insidious threats that attempt to influence beliefs and behaviors need to be considered as modern weapons of cognitive hijacking. We need to develop scientific approaches to combat these emerging threats in a global context, equip our warfighters with these capabilities, and strengthen community resiliency.鈥�

Agarwal, Jerry L. Maulden-Entergy Endowed Chair and Distinguished Professor in the Department of Information Science, says these threats are increasingly flash mob-type events, where groups self-organize and coordinate in cyberspace, then disperse. Coordinated cognitive attacks can cause stock market frenzy, violent protests, highly coordinated cyberattacks on public infrastructure, for instance. To an outsider such acts may look arbitrary, however, intense coordination happens in the background.

鈥淕iven the evolving technological landscape and increasing complexity of cognitive attacks, research is warranted to develop multidisciplinary and theoretically grounded capabilities to evaluate emerging socio-cognitive threats that can serve the needs of our military at strategic, tactical, and operational levels,鈥� Agarwal said.

U.S. Sen. John Boozman is a strong advocate for basic and applied research at 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock.

鈥淭he evolving nature of social media and the changing tactics our adversaries use to spread misinformation requires us to develop a strategy to respond,鈥� Sen. Boozman said. 鈥淒r. Agarwal鈥檚 research will help create critical tools to combat bad actors on these platforms. I鈥檓 proud to support Arkansas鈥檚 role in advancing solutions to counter cyber threats.鈥�

鈥淲e are extremely grateful to the Army Research Office, 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock leadership and U.S. Sen. John Boozman for championing this vital research,鈥� Agarwal added. 鈥淚t helps position the COSMOS Research Center at the forefront of developing capabilities to combat cognitive threats. The investment will help put these capabilities in the hands of our warfighters to ultimately strengthen our national defense and security apparatus.鈥�

When narratives rapidly evolve in an unchecked online environment, the results can be dangerous. State and non-state actors, alike, can use social media platforms to amplify certain narratives and sway public opinion in their favor. Some of Agarwal鈥檚 previous research has shown how YouTube鈥檚 algorithms can be manipulated to promote positive content about China while crushing negative news like human rights violations against Uyghur minorities in western China, or how the terrorist organization, Islamic State uses bots to recruit members and for propaganda campaigns.

“There are many popular shows about the use of forensics to solve physical crimes. Somewhat similarly, Dr. Agarwal uses social cyber forensics to determine the sources of scams and influence campaigns, some of which threaten our country and its allies,鈥� said Dr. Lawrence Whitman, dean of the Donaghey College of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math. 鈥淗e works closely with the Army to apply the methods and tools his team has developed to make us all safer. It’s great to have Dr. Agarwal working on these threats, and we are grateful to have this partnership with the Army Research Office.”

Agarwal鈥檚 research team investigates governments, groups, and individuals who use advanced communication tactics to orchestrate sophisticated cognitive attack campaigns through a variety of existing and emerging social media platforms, particularly multimedia-rich platforms.

U.S. defense groups are interested in the work because it helps to identify how adversaries are promoting certain narratives via social media, how such narratives resonate with the target audience, and how those narratives can be combated. Training exercises will be conducted to enhance the U.S. workforce with skills in big data analytics, data management, machine learning, and artificial intelligence with applications in security.

The award will provide support for high-speed computational servers that are necessary to support the processing of large volumes of multimodality data, which includes text, image, video, audio, reach, engagement, metadata, and interactions. It is also expected to fund around 15 student research positions, several postdoctoral research fellowships, and data engineer positions.

鈥淭he funds will help create exciting opportunities for our students and research staff by exposing them to real world problems and stimulating them to develop science-based solutions,鈥� Agarwal said.

This research was sponsored by the Army Research Office and was accomplished under Grant Number W911NF-23-1-0011. The views and conclusions contained in this document are those of the authors and should not be interpreted as representing the official policies, either expressed or implied, of the Army Research Office or the U.S. Government. The U.S. Government is authorized to reproduce and distribute reprints for Government purposes notwithstanding any copyright notation herein.

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