PLANET FORMATION AND ITS EFFECTS ON SMALL BODY RESERVOIRS THIS PROPOSAL EMPLOYS A SERIES OF STATE-OF-THE-ART NUMERICAL SIMULATIONS TO INVESTIGATE THE FUNDAMENTAL QUESTION OF WHY THE SOLAR SYSTEM DOES NOT HAVE PLANETS CLOSER TO THE SUN THAN MERCURY. SPECIFICALLY WE WILL STUDY THREE MECHANISMS THAT MIGHT BE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE REMOVAL OF A HYPOTHETICAL POPULATION OF INTRA-MERCURIAL PLANETS SUGGEST THAT THE SOLAR SYSTEM WAS BORN WITH 3 OR MORE PLANETS IN THIS REGION WHICH WERE SUBSEQUENTLY DESTROYED BY A VIOLENT DYNAMICAL INSTABILITY. ENVISION THAT PLANETS IN THIS REGION WERE PUSHED INTO THE SUN BY A SWARM OF COLLISIONAL FRAGMENTS GENERATED DURING A COLLISIONAL CASCADE CAUSED BY THE MIGRATION OF JUPITER. WE PRESENT A NEW IDEA BASED ON OUR RECENT SIMULATIONS OF SO-CALLED 'PEBBLE ACCRETION' WHERE PLANETARY EMBRYOS GROW BY THE DIRECT ACCRETION OF SUBMETER-SIZED OBJECTS. IN THIS CASE LARGE INNER PLANETS ARE PUSHED INTO THE SUN DUE TO GRAVITATIONAL INTERACTIONS WITH THE SOLAR NEBULA (I.E. TYPE I MIGRATION). WHILE EXCITING AND INTRIGUING AS WE DESCRIBE IN THE PROPOSAL THERE ARE ISSUES WITH THESE IDEAS THAT CAN ONLY BE ADDRESSED WITH LARGE-SCALE SIMULATIONS THAT FOLLOW BOTH THE DYNAMICAL AND COLLISIONAL EVOLUTION OF THE PLANETARY SYSTEMS AS THE PLANETS GROW AND EVOLVE. WE PROPOSE SUCH SIMULATIONS HERE IN ORDER TO EVALUATE THESE HYPOTHESES.