NSF CIO Terry Carpenter retires

The National Science Foundation’s chief information officer, Terry Carpenter, has departed from his role at the head of the agency’s IT office. An NSF spokesperson confirmed to Nextgov/FCW that Carpenter retired from the agency on February 28.

Carpenter was initially appointed CIO and chief technology officer in January 2024, when the NSF announced its internal information technology systems overhaul, and was the first to serve in that role overseeing an independent and consolidated Office of the Chief Information Officer. That decision was “fueled by the ‘CHIPS and Science Act of 2022,’” according to an agency press release at the time. 

Clyde E. Richards has taken over as the National Science Foundation’s acting chief information officer as of March 1, the spokesperson told Nextgov/FCW. 

Richards has worked as the deputy CIO at NSF since March 2024, according to his LinkedIn, following several positions across Department of Defense agencies. Richards began his career in the U.S. Army in 1989. 

The new appointment comes as the NSF has been one of the many federal agencies subject to mass layoffs of probationary employees. Probationary employees began to be reinstated in early March following California District Judge Willian Alsup’s ruling that the Trump administration’s Office of Personnel Management overreached its abilities to order their terminations.