Publications
OUR RESEARCH
Machine Learning to Detect Self-Reporting of COVID-19 Symptoms
In this study in JMIR, we demonstrate how to use unsupervised machine learning approaches to detect COVID-19 symptoms, testing access, and recovery

Twitter-Based Detection of Illegal Online Sale of Prescription Opioid
In this study in the American Journal of Public Health, we demonstrated how to detect illicit online pharmacies selling opioids via Twitter and our approach at web forensics

Solution to Detect, Classify, and Report Illicit Online Marketing and Sales of Controlled Substances via Twitter
In this 2018 study in JMIR we discuss our participation in the HHS Opioid Code-a-thon and also outline early translation of research for commercialization

Use of Machine Learning to Detect Wildlife Product Promotion and Sales on Twitter
This is the first of our work in wildlife trafficking published in Frontiers in Big Data where we describe a preliminary approach to detect illegal ivory trading on Twitter

Exploring Trends of Nonmedical use of Prescription Drugs and Polydrug Abuse in the Twittersphere
In this study in Addictive Behaviors we examined Tweets related to opioid abuse behavior using and unsupervised machine learning approach

A Machine Learning Approach for Detection and Characterization of Illicit Drug Dealers on Instagram
In this study in JMIR we detected and characterized Instagram posts associated with digital drug dealing using multiple machine learning models

Leveraging Big Data to Identify Corruption as an SDG Goal 16 Humanitarian Technology
In this conference proceeding of the IEEE Global Humanitarian Technology Conference 19', we describe our detection of corruption events on Twitter

OUR NEWS COVERAGE
Coronavirus scammers are flooding social media with fake cures
Apr 17, 2020: Article in Vox:Recode highlighting S-3's work on detecting and combatting COVID-19 fake products
Researchers study millions of social media posts, find bogus COVID-19 test kits for sale
May 6, 2020: Investigative journalism and TV interview on PIX11 about work on fake COVID-19 testing kits
A-high: Prototype drug squad bot to patrol social media for opioids
Jan 22, 2020: Article in The Register highlighting S-3's technology and SBIR contract award
AI can help find illegal opioid sellers online. And wildlife traffickers
Jan 21, 2020: Feature article in Vox:Recode spotlighting S-3 Research research, innovation and future commercialization
Hunting Online Drug Dealers
Jan 29, 2020: Feature article in deeplearning.ai the Batch newsletter discussing our solution and model performance
Armed guards, secret location: Inside illegal marijuana bazaar
Jan 17, 2020: Interview and research coverage on NBC News on harms of social media for THC and vaping product access