A CONCEPT FOR A FAR-INFRARED NASA ASTROPHYSICS PROBE THE GALAXY EVOLUTION PROBE WILL BE DEVELOPED. THE GALAXY EVOLUTION PROBE COMBINES NEW LARGE-FORMAT DETECTOR ARRAY TECHNOLOGY KINETIC INDUCTANCE DETECTORS AND PROVEN TELESCOPE TECHNOLOGY TO ENABLE VERY LARGE-SCALE GALAXY SURVEYS. COUPLED WITH A 2 METER 4-KELVIN TELESCOPE THE SENSITIVITY OF THE GALAXY EVOLUTION PROBE CAN ACHIEVE THE BACKGROUND LIMIT SET BY THERMAL DUST EMISSION FROM THE MILKY WAY AND ZODIACAL LIGHT. THE PROBE WILL DETECT GALAXIES VIA THEIR DUST EMISSION TO MEASURE THEIR STAR-FORMATION RATES AND WILL MEASURE THEIR REDSHIFTS PHOTOMETRICALLY USING EMISSION FROM POLYCYCLIC AROMATIC HYDROCARBONS AND OTHER REST-FRAME MID-INFRARED SPECTRAL FEATURES. FOLLOW-UP SPECTROSCOPY WITH A MODERATE-RESOLUTION SPECTROMETER WILL VALIDATE AND OPTIMIZE THE PHOTOMETRIC REDSHIFTS PROVIDE ADDITIONAL MEASURES OF STAR FORMATION RATE AND INTERSTELLAR MEDIUM PROCESSES AND IDENTIFY DUST-OBSCURED ACTIVE GALACTIC NUCLEI AND MEASURE THEIR LUMINOSITIES. THE PROBE WILL CHARACTERIZE THE EVOLUTION OF STAR FORMATION AND NUCLEAR ACTIVITY FROM THE PEAK OF COSMIC STAR FORMATION TO THE PRESENT EPOCH LEADING TO A NEW UNDERSTANDING OF WHAT DROVE THE EVOLUTION. THE CONCEPT STUDY WILL START WITH A BASIC DEFINITION OF THE SCIENCE GOALS TO BE INFORMED BY SIMULATIONS OF GALAXY DETECTION RATES AND THE PRECISION AND ACCURACY OF PHOTOMETRIC REDSHIFTS. TELESCOPE REQUIREMENTS TO MEET THE GOALS WILL BE DERIVED. THIS WILL BE FOLLOWED BY THE DEVELOPMENT OF A BASIC DESIGN FOR THE TELESCOPE INSTRUMENTATION AND OBSERVING MODES A THERMAL DESIGN AND A COST AND OPTIMIZATION ANALYSIS. WITH THE OBSERVATORY PARAMETER IN HAND THE GALAXY EVOLUTION PROBE SCIENCE COMMITTEE WILL ORGANIZE A BROAD SCIENCE WORKSHOP AND RECRUIT MEMBERS OF THE COMMUNITY TO PRESENT IDEAS FOR USE OF THE PROBE SURVEY DATA AND TO PROPOSE PROJECTS TO BE DONE WITH OPEN-TIME OBSERVATIONS. INPUT FROM THE WORKSHOP WILL BE USED TO ITERATE UPON THE OBSERVATORY DESIGN TO ENABLE KEY SCIENCE IDENTIFIED BY THE COMMUNITY. THE RESULTS OF THE STUDY WILL BE PUBLISHED IN A REPORT TO NASA AND PRESENTED AT AN AMERICAN ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY MEETING.