PLASMA PHYSICS IS OF FUNDAMENTAL IMPORTANCE TO HELIOPHYSICS. THE PYTHON ECOSYSTEM FOR HELIOPHYSICS THEREFORE REQUIRES PLASMA PHYSICS FUNCTIONALITY IN ORDER TO SUPPORT CURRENT AND PLANNED NASA MISSIONS TO INVESTIGATE THE HELIOSPHERE. PLASMAPY IS AN OPEN SOURCE PYTHON PACKAGE FOR PLASMA PHYSICS IN THE EARLY STAGES OF DEVELOPMENT. PLASMAPY STRIVES TO PROVIDE THE FUNCTIONALITY NEEDED TO STUDY HELIOSPHERIC LABORATORY AND ASTROPHYSICAL PLASMAS. THE GOALS OF THIS PROPOSAL ARE TO ADD CAPABILITIES TO PLASMAPY IMPROVE INTERCOMPATIBILITY BETWEEN PLASMAPY AND OTHER PACKAGES IN THE EMERGING PYTHON ECOSYSTEM FOR HELIOPHYSICS AND OFFICIALLY RELEASE THE NEXT VERSION OF PLASMAPY. THE FIRST PLANNED TASK IS TO CREATE A STANDARD TO REPRESENT THE INITIAL CONDITIONS BOUNDARY CONDITIONS AND COMPUTATIONAL DOMAIN FOR NUMERICAL SIMULATIONS OF PLASMAS. A PYTHON IMPLEMENTATION OF THIS STANDARD WILL BE IMPLEMENTED INTO PLASMAPY. THIS TASK WILL PROVIDE THE HELIOPHYSICS SOFTWARE ECOSYSTEM WITH TOOLS TO ENABLE RESEARCHERS TO STRAIGHTFORWARDLY SWITCH BETWEEN DIFFERENT CODES WITH DIFFERENT PHYSICAL MODELS IN ORDER TO PERFORM BENCHMARKS AND VERIFICATION STUDIES. THE SECOND PLANNED TASK WILL BE TO COMPLETE THE IMPLEMENTATION OF NON-EQUILIBRIUM IONIZATION (NEI) MODELING CAPABILITIES INTO THE HELIOPHYSICS SOFTWARE ECOSYSTEM. NEI MODELING CAPABILITIES WILL ENABLE RESEARCHERS TO INVESTIGATE THE EVOLUTION OF CHARGE STATES OF PLASMA IN THE SOLAR WIND AND DURING SOLAR ERUPTIONS AND THUS BE ABLE TO PREDICT AND INTERPRET BOTH REMOTE AND IN SITU OBSERVATIONS BY NASA MISSIONS. THROUGHOUT THIS PROJECT WE WILL COORDINATE WITH THE PYTHON IN HELIOPHYSICS COMMUNITY AND MAKE IMPROVEMENTS TO EXISTING CODE AND DOCUMENTATION WITHIN PLASMAPY FOR LONG-TERM MAINTAINABILITY.