PITTSBURGH, Pa. — October 2025 — Loyola University Chicago’s BullyBlocker team took center stage at the 2025 International Conference on Social Computing, Behavioral-Cultural Modeling & Prediction and Behavior Representation in Modeling and Simulation (SBP-BRiMS), presenting new research on strengthening cyberbullying detection against adversarial tactics.

Representing Loyola and the BullyBlocker project were Maddie Juarez, Manny Sandoval, and Prof. Yas Silva. Juarez and Sandoval were selected for SBP-BRiMS travel scholarships, and both delivered a clear, confident presentation of the team’s paper, “Analyzing Adversarial Strategies and Countermeasures for Cyberbullying Detection.”

The paper, co-authored by Maddie Juarez, Eldor Abdukhamidov, Manuel (Manny) Sandoval, Mujtaba Nazari, Deborah Hall, George K. Thiruvathukal, Tamer Abuhmed, Yas Silva, and Mohammed Abuhamad, examines how malicious actors attempt to evade automated moderation systems and evaluates defenses that make detection models more robust. By mapping common evasion patterns and testing countermeasures, the authors contribute practical insights for researchers, educators, and platform moderators working to protect online communities. The team emphasized the need for adaptive methods that can withstand coded language and adversarial behaviors. Their results point to strategies that can harden detection pipelines without sacrificing fairness or transparency, a core principles of the BullyBlocker project.

The appearance at SBP-BRiMS highlights Loyola University Chicago’s commitment to research with social impact and marks a milestone for the BullyBlocker collaboration.

For more information about visit the BullyBlocker project website.