About Us

The Critical Infrastructure Resilience Institute (CIRI) conducts research and education that enhances the resiliency of the nation’s critical infrastructures and the businesses and public entities that own and operate those assets and systems.

CIRI is funded by a $20 million five-year grant from the Department of Homeland Security. It is led by the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with collaborators from other U.S. universities and national labs.

With an emphasis on outputs-oriented research, education and workforce development, and early and continuous engagement with end users and homeland security practitioners, CIRI will explore the organizational, policy, business, and technical dimensions of critical infrastructure’s dependence on cyber assets. CIRI will examine how computer hardware and software both contribute to and threaten resiliency and how industry makes decisions about cyber assets which contribute to resilience.

A significant focus of the CIRI will be on transitioning research outputs for use by DHS operational components, other homeland security end users, policymakers, decision makers across all levels of industry and government, and community leaders.