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CAE Community of Practice Cyber Defense

Community Outreach Competition

NCAE-C Seal

CAE-CD Community Outreach Competition Initiative

The “CAE-CD Community Outreach Competition” initiative is co-chaired by:

  • Wei Li - Nova Southeastern University

  • Xiuwen Liu - Florida State University

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The CAE-CD Community Outreach Competition Committee was established by the CAE-CoP-CD Steering Committee to encourage and promote cybersecurity awareness and online safety practices by taking advantage of the October Cybersecurity Awareness month and all throughout the year. As a CAE-CD, all institutions are conducting outreach and community activities, while most are enhancing such activities during the month of October to provide further support for the Cybersecurity Awareness month, others are continuously providing outreach activities to their community throughout the year. The CAE Program of Study (PoS) Validation and CAE Designation requirements are calling for outreach activities by all CAE-CDs to engage faculty members and students in extracurricular activities such as “experiential learning activities, local/regional/national cyber exercises and competitions, outreach to community colleges and high schools, computer check-up days, summer internship program, industry guest lectures …” (CAE-CD Requirement Document, p. 12), and “outreach activities allow the cybersecurity program to engage with the government and industry to provide pathways for graduates while maintaining an appropriate curriculum to place graduates into those jobs” (CAE-CD Requirement Document, p. 20). This initiative was formed to showcase the CAEs who are doing above and beyond of their call for duty by recognizing the outstanding outreach work performed. Thus, the CAE-CD Community Outreach Competition will challenge CAEs to submit their activities to the CAE-CD Outreach Competition Committee based on the criteria noted below and will be evaluated for recognition of their outstanding outreach work.

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To read more about this initiative, check via: 

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  • The Criteria, Rule, and Submission Instructions for the 2025 CAE-CD Community Outreach Competition (Deadline: February 22, 2026) - Click here!

  • Submission Template (Excel file) - Click here!

  • Submission site - Click here!

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Additionally, the committee conducted sessions in early 2026 to solicit CAEs submissions of their 2025 Yearly (from Jan 2025 to Dec 2025) Community Outreach activities, following the information in the file above. During February 2026, the 2025 Award Committee reviewed all submissions and recommended the top CAE-CDs who provided the most impactful outreach activities to their community during the 2024 calendar year. 

  • Xiuwen Liu - Florida State University, Award Committee Co-Chair

  • Wei Li - Nova Southeastern University, Award Committee Co-Chair

  • Bei-Tseng Chu - University of North Carolina at Charlotte

  • Michael Kelly - Community College of Rhode Island

  • Tahir M. Khan - Western Illinois University

  • Stanley Kostka - Moraine Valley Community College

  • Stanley Mierzwa - Kean University

  • Mandy Reininger - Chemeketa Community College

  • Michael Tu - Purdue University Northwest

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We want to thank the 2025 Award Committee members for their dedication and hard work! 

2025 CAE-CD Community Outreach Award Winners:

  • ​List of the top 10 winners of the CAE-CD Community Outreach Award will appear here shortly before the 2026 CAE Symposium.

The CAE-CD Community Outreach Competition - 2025 Award Committee: 

  • Xiuwen Liu - Florida State University, Award Committee Co-Chair

  • Wei Li - Nova Southeastern University, Award Committee Co-Chair

  • Bei-Tseng Chu - University of North Carolina at Charlotte

  • Michael Kelly - Community College of Rhode Island

  • Tahir M. Khan - Western Illinois University

  • Stanley Kostka - Moraine Valley Community College

  • Stanley Mierzwa - Kean University

  • Mandy Reininger - Chemeketa Community College

  • Michael Tu - Purdue University Northwest

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We want to thank the 2025 Award Committee members for their dedication and hard work! 

2025 CAE-CD Community Outreach Award Winners

  • TBD

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​List of the top 10 winners of the CAE-CD Community Outreach Award will appear here shortly before the 2026 CAE Symposium.

The 2025 Submitting CAE-CD Institutions (Total Submissions: 25)

  • Alamo Colleges District

  • Bismark State College

  • California State University, San Bernardino

  • Coastline Community College

  • Community College of Rhode Island

  • County College of Morris

  • Florida State University

  • Hennepin Technical College

  • Indiana University of Pennsylvania

  • Iowa State University

  • Kean University

  • Loyola University Chicago

  • Metropolitan State University

  • Michigan Technological University

  • Middle Georgia State College

  • Northwest Missouri State University

  • Northwood Technical College

  • Nova Southeastern University

  • Tennessee Technological University

  • University of Alabama at Huntsville

  • University of Colorado at Colorado Springs

  • University of Nevada, Las Vegas

  • University of Nevada, Reno

  • University of West Florida

  • Western Illinois University

Updated: March 23, 2026

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