CaRCC RCD Monthly Newsletter – April 2026

Research Computing and Data (RCD) Monthly

April 2026

In this issue:

1. What to Expect at PEARC26
2. RCD Program Story: Wake Forest University
3. April Events and Call Topics
4. All Things AI: NAIRR Pilot & AI-Related Events and Announcements
   
5. CaRCC Volunteer Opportunities

What to Expect at PEARC26: A Conversation with the General Chairs

2026 is here and it’s time to start planning your participation in the 2026 ACM Practice and Experience in Advanced Research Computing Conference (PEARC26)! This year’s conference takes place July 26-30, in Minneapolis, Minnesota and will host leading experts, researchers, and practitioners in the field of research computing and data (RCD). 

CaRCC had the opportunity to chat with PEARC26 general chairs: Shafaq Chaudhry, Shava Smallen and Tabitha Samuel to get a sneak peek into what you can expect from this year’s conference. 

From Systems to Service: How Wake Forest’s Three-Person HPC Team Puts People at the Center of Research Computing

Located in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, Wake Forest University is an R2 institution that balances a deep commitment to undergraduate education with a rapidly growing research portfolio. CaRCC spoke with the HPC team – Adam Carlson (Assistant Director of Research Computing), Cody Stevens (Senior HPC UNIX Systems Administrator), and Dr. Sean Anderson (Senior HPC UNIX Systems Administrator) – to discuss how a lean, centrally funded team of three supports eighteen departments and prepares students for the modern STEM workforce.

April Events And Call Topics At-a-Glance 

Mark your calendars for these upcoming People Network and CaRCC Activity Group Calls (Zoom details at the end), as well as Calls from our RCD ecosystem peers. For handy calendar entries, try the CaRCC People Network Calendar (GCal view; calendar integration). And if you’re not on our mailing lists, you can join via our Members page and join our Slack channels. 

CaRCC Newcomer Welcome and Orientation (April)

Tuesday, April 14 3p ET/2p CT/1p MT/12p PT

Register now to receive Zoom connection details! Come to learn more about CaRCC’s community-powered organization and opportunities, and feel free to bring along or pass the word to colleagues.

CaRCC People Network Calls

• Data-Facing Track (1^st Tuesdays) Tue, April 7 1p ET/12p CT/11a MT/10a PT Accessible Research Data, Kristin Briney
• Strategy and Policy-Facing Track (1^st Wednesdays) Wed, April 1 12p ET/ 11a CT/ 10a MT/ 9a PT CASC and NAIRR meetings recap, community discussion
  
• Researcher-Facing Track (2^nd Thursdays) Thu, April 9 1p ET/ 12p CT/ 11a MT/ 10a PT Platform X- Scalable, Sustainable Infrastructure, Mike Collins University of Wisconsin
  
• Emerging Centers Track (3^rdWednesdays) Wed, April 15 12p ET/ 11a CT/ 10a MT/ 9a PT/ 7a HT RCD Origin Stories #2: Mike Renfro, Tennessee Tech University
  
• Systems-Facing Track (3^rd Thursdays) Thu April 16, 1p ET/ 12p CT/ 11a MT/ 10a PT Floating Point Precision in Modern GPU Infrastructure: Practical Considerations for HPC Architecture and Procurement, Aaron Jezghani, PhD
  

Additional Community Opportunities

RCD Capabilities Model Office Hours. Tue, April 14, 1p ET/ 10a PT (2nd Tuesdays): Meeting coordinates: Zoom Session URL. 

RCD Mentoring Working Group Monthly Meet-Up. Thu April 2 1p ET/ 12p CT/ 11am MT/ 10a PT (1st Thursdays):  Meeting coordinates:Zoom Session URL. Join the workforce-mentoring-wg@carcc.org mailing list or send questions to RCD Staff and Student Workforce Mentoring Coordinators.

RCD Workforce Development Interest Group.Tue April 14 ,2p ET/ 1p CT/ 12p MT/ 11a PT Using AI in the RCD Workforce See Zoom details below.  Join the Interest Group mailing list.

AI Facilitation Interest Group Monthly Gathering. Wed, April 8 1p ET/ 10a PT (2nd Wednesdays) The OneOklahoma CI Initiative, Henry Neeman Meeting coordinates: Zoom Session URL. Join here: https://carcc.org/ai-facilitation-ig/ 

Quantum Computing Interest Group Monthly Gathering. Wed, April 29, noon ET/ 9a PT (final Wednesdays). Meeting coordinates: Zoom session URL. 

Regulated Research Community of Practice (RRCoP) Community Discussions. Wed April 8, 2p ET/ 11a PT (2nd Wednesdays) A Journey of Developing Security Guidance for High-Performance Computing (HPC) with Yang Guo of NIST. Please use this Zoom link, contact info@regulatedresearch.org or Carolyn Ellis with any questions

US Research Software Engineers Monthly Community Call.Thu April 14  12p ET/ 9a PT (2nd Thursdays) This month’s topic is Legacy Code: Horrors and Successes See https://us-rse.org/calendar/ for more information. 

EDUCAUSE Research Computing and Data Community Group Monthly Community Call.Thu Apr 23, 1p ET/ 10a PT (4^th Thursdays of even months): See the Events tab within EDUCAUSE Connect for more information.

CaRCC Calls and Zoom

All CaRCC People Network calls will take place within the Zoom room below, also visible in the CaRCC People Network Google calendar (see above). Please help us keep these details secure (non-public), but feel free to share with a colleague.

https://utah.zoom.us/my/carcc?pwd=TjFuR3VVM2d5eE5zWnEvWWxDTFBCUT09

All Things AI

A quick-hit listing of upcoming events and training related to the NAIRR Pilot and other AI initiatives

Volunteer Opportunities

See several open volunteer opportunities this month!

RCD Monthly is a newsletter dedicated to the Research Computing and Data (RCD) professional community and others who work to support research using technology. This work is supported by grants OAC- 2436057 and OAC-2100003. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation. 

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