SANFORD - Three Central Carolina Community College students and small business center clients have been awarded scholarships to attend the Institute for Emerging Issues Forum.

Shaquannah Faison, Tonia Jones, and Anri Vercuiel have been selected to receive scholarships for the Forum, which will be held Feb. 9-10 at the Raleigh Convention Center in Raleigh.

They will have the opportunity to participate in a meet-and-greet session with one of the program speakers, Ray Kurzweil, who is a director of engineering at Google.

"Since its inception, the Institute for Emerging Issues has done an amazing job of not only bringing thought leaders on critical topics facing North Carolina to the forefront, but they also encourage pre- and post-conference dialogue so that change actually comes about as a result of this new knowledge," said Dr. Pamela Senegal, CCCC Vice President of Economic and Community Development.

"Our students are going to be exposed to a timely topic this year - reconstructing innovation. I look forward to hearing what they learn from this conference that will impact our community. We are grateful to IEI for providing these scholarships to these deserving CCCC students and small business center clients."

The Institute for Emerging Issues is located on the Centennial Campus of North Carolina State University in Raleigh.