CCI Impact Award

The CCI Impact Award is the annual flagship award for CCI.

It recognizes an individual, team, group, or organization who, through their CCI activities, conducted breakthrough cybersecurity research or innovation or developed a creative means to improve cybersecurity workforce opportunities for our industry partners and students.

The impact must be at a minimum regional, but optimally, state-wide or nationally recognized and is measured through economic metrics, professional standards or publications, media attention, etc.

The award will be presented at the CCI Symposium dinner on April 14, 2025, in Richmond, Va., at the Omni Richmond Hotel. 

Nominations for the 2025 award closed Feb. 28, 2025.

Who Is Eligible

Any faculty member, student or staff member at a CCI institution of higher education, CCI-engaged industry partner, non-profit organization, or government agency/organization (individual, group, or organization) who has conducted their activities in the 2024 calendar year can be nominated.

Nomination Process

• Complete the CCI Impact Award Nomination Form (self-nominations are allowed). 
• If you're at a CCI institution of higher education, get an endorsement from the appropriate node director or CCI executive director on the nomination form.
• Save the form as a PDF.
• Submit the form as an attachment to CCI Managing Director John Delaney at jpdelaney@vt.edu.
• CCI will accept nominations from Jan. 1 to Feb. 28, 2025.

The Impact Award Selection Committee, an advisory to the CCI Leadership Council, will review all nominations. The CCI Leadership Council will then review the committee’s recommendations and select the winner.

For more information or if you have questions, contact CCI Managing Director John Delaney at jpdelaney@vt.edu.

About CCI

CCI’s mission is to serve as an engine for research, innovation, and workforce development in the Commonwealth, becoming a global cybersecurity leader while closing the workforce gap. 

In its five years of operations, CCI has made significant, positive impact across all three of its mission lines and has gained a reputation of scholarly excellence and innovative approaches to solving the cybersecurity challenges that face the Commonwealth.