---
title: "Three undergraduate students help support CARC systems and users"
description: "The Center for Advanced Research Computing (CARC) team welcomed three new undergraduate student employees in the summer and fall of 2023."
type: News
tags:
  - News
date: "2023-10"
generated:
  by: "process:scripts/port_legacy_pages.py"
  at: "2026-09-10T00:00:00Z"
sources:
  - id: carc-web
    resource: "https://carc.unm.edu/news--events/News/fall-23-undergrads.html"
    title: "Three undergraduate students help support CARC systems and users (carc.unm.edu)"
    author: "team:unm-carc"
---

# Three undergraduate students help support CARC systems and users

<p class="carc-byline">By Mariah Rosales · October 2023</p>

The Center for Advanced Research Computing (CARC) team welcomed three new
undergraduate student employees in the summer and fall of 2023. Maisy Dunlavy,
Sumaya Houssini, and Ryan Scherbarth help in a variety of areas, addressing
help tickets, building high performance computing (HPC) systems, assisting
with student workshops, and much more.

![](/assets/fall-23-undergrads-article-image-w-caption-updated.jpg)

Dunlavy, a junior dual linguistics and computer science major, is most
interested in machine learning and natural language processing. She helps
address help tickets, assists with office hours and running workshops for
students, and works on tutorials for various programs and software for CARC
users. Dunlavy says, “Working at CARC has given me a much better understanding
of how computers actually work when we’re programming.” She continues, “I feel
like the knowledge I’ve gained at CARC has helped me fill in gaps in the
computer science program in terms of how programs are interacting with
hardware and how large machines are structured.” Dunlavy is excited to be a
part of the team at CARC and plans to attend graduate school once she earns
her bachelor’s degree.

Houssini, a junior computer science major focusing on software engineering,
hopes to gain and grow experience in the field of HPC while learning the
ins-and-outs of Linux, an open-source operating system. Houssini assists the
CARC Research Facilitators with various tasks around UNM campus, including
software installations, writing scripts, and creating documentation. While
describing her interests, goals and future plans in computing, Houssini notes
that she has learned a lot about the Linux command line and the various ways
it is used in HPC and is looking forward to expanding her knowledge in HPC.
“My goal is to become a software engineer,” says Houssini.

Scherbarth, a junior computer science major, helps find solutions to issues
that are submitted through help tickets, assists with workshops and office
hours, and updates CARC help documentation like QuickBytes tutorials. “I’ve
actually been interested in working in the cybersecurity space,” Scherbarth
says, “but after managing the [Winter Classic Invitational Student Cluster
Competition](hpc-competitions-2023.md) last February, I began to really enjoy
high performance computing.” Over the summer, Scherbarth worked closely with
his supervisor at CARC while preparing for the [SC23 Student Cluster
Competition](https://sc23.supercomputing.org/){target=_blank}. Scherbarth
pursued student employment at CARC after discovering he really enjoyed the
work he was doing with HPC. On top of juggling a full course load each
semester and his role at CARC, Scherbarth also works at Sandia Labs where he
designs secure web applications. He is undecided on what career path he wants
to take but plans on attending graduate school after he earns his bachelor’s
degree.

University of New Mexico Research Assistant Professor Matthew Fricke
supervises Dunlavy and Scherbarth. CARC IT Services Manager Hussein Al Azzawi
supervises Houssini. Al Azzawi states, “Our student employees this semester
are undergraduates which will give them a couple of years to learn all of the
ins-and-outs of HPC and research computing support.”

Whether the students go on to graduate school or straight into the workforce
after they graduate from UNM, they’ll have a head start with the experience
they’ve received working at CARC. Houssini notes, “I’m hoping that my
experience working at CARC will help me gain a wide range of skills to use
once I graduate from UNM and start off my career.”