---
title: "An important message from our Director"
description: "A message to the CARC community from then-Director Patrick G. Bridges on federal executive actions and CARC's commitments."
type: News
tags:
  - News
generated:
  by: "claude/fable-5"
  at: "2026-08-29T00:00:00Z"
sources:
  - id: carc-web
    resource: "https://carc.unm.edu/news--events/News/director-message.html"
    title: "Director's message (carc.unm.edu)"
    author: "team:unm-carc"
---

# An important message from our Director

<p class="carc-byline">From the Director, early 2025</p>

Dear CARC Community Member,

The federal government recently issued multiple executive orders and actions
that impact members of the CARC community related to issues such as
diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA) efforts, immigration,
gender identity, and climate change. These orders have upended long-standing
programs around the country and placed significant restrictions on
institutions' abilities to use federally-provided funds for some projects.
Just as importantly, they have created turmoil, fear, and uncertainty
nationwide, in New Mexico, at UNM, and at CARC, particularly but not
exclusively in members of the communities and programs they directly impact.

As Director of CARC, I want to assure you that CARC remains committed to the
UNM 2040 goal of inclusive excellence for all New Mexicans. As
[President Stokes shared in her message to the UNM community](https://president.unm.edu/documents/weekly-perspective/2025/presidents-weekly-perspective-2025-01-27.pdf){target=_blank},
we welcome all members of the UNM community, and CARC will continue our
efforts to expand opportunity, create new knowledge, and provide service to
all New Mexicans regardless of their race, color, ethnicity, sex, gender
identity, age, disability, citizenship, or immigration status. To do so,
CARC staff and I are working with UNM leadership to ensure that CARC can
continue to support you and your academic advanced computing needs while
complying with updated federal rules, regulations, and guidance.

To help us in this endeavor, I ask that all members of the CARC community
let me know immediately if you encounter any CARC-related challenges related
to updated federal guidance that I can work with you to address. The
[President's office](https://president.unm.edu/2025-federal-executive-actions/index.html){target=_blank}
and the
[Vice Presidents of Research at UNM](https://research.unm.edu/federalfunding){target=_blank}
have provided very helpful information in this area; however, due to the
wide-ranging impacts of this guidance, please do not hesitate to contact me
if there is anything that CARC leadership can do to help you navigate these
issues.

Finally, in related news, I encourage you to read the CARC Newsletter, where
we provide details on the next-generation computing systems CARC recently
finalized the purchase of, the centerpiece of which is the new
[Easley cluster](easley-cluster.md), named after NASA computer science and
math pioneer
[Annie Easley](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annie_Easley){target=_blank}.

Sincerely,

Patrick G. Bridges<br>
Director, UNM Center for Advanced Research Computing<br>
Professor, Department of Computer Science