CIRI Receives DHS Grant Extension

The Department of Homeland Security Science & Technology Directorate has extended its Cooperative Agreement grant with the Critical Infrastructure Resilience Institute (CIRI) at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign to serve as a DHS Center of Excellence through June 30, 2024.  This extension will allow CIRI to continue to pursue its mission of enhancing the security and resilience of our nation’s critical infrastructure.

“We are very grateful to DHS for extending our grant and look forward to continuing to serve our nation through our research, technology transition, and education and workforce development initiatives,” said Dr. David Nicol, CIRI Principal Investigator and Director.

CIRI’s grant was originally awarded to the University of Illinois through an intense competitive selection process in 2015.  Since then, CIRI has engaged in many projects with various academic and private sector partners from across the country, addressing a wide range of urgent challenges affecting critical infrastructure resilience across multiple technology and policy domains.

“Our promise and our goal is to deliver meaningful impact in service to our mission.  We are extremely gratified that - through the grant extension - DHS believes that we are delivering on that promise now and will continue to do so in the years ahead,” said Randy Sandone, Executive Director of CIRI.

CIRI’s current research portfolio includes projects addressing urgent challenges in the cybersecurity of federal and state, local, tribal, and territorial (SLTT) systems; 5G telecommunications networks; interoperability and cybersecurity of Next Generation 911 (NG911) systems; and assessment and mitigation of Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) attacks on critical infrastructure.  In addition, CIRI is currently supporting the transition of several technology products developed at CIRI to commercial markets through DHS-sponsored technology transition programs.  Lastly, CIRI is preparing to deliver a wide range of innovative cybersecurity education courses developed by leading academic institutions for use by community colleges, universities, and government agencies to address the nation’s critical shortage of trained cybersecurity professionals.

More information about CIRI and its many projects and programs can be found at here.