THIS PROPOSAL AND BUDGET REQUEST IS FOR THE SUPPORT A POSTDOC RESEARCH ASSISTANT MR. THANH NGUYEN FOR PERFORMING RESEARCH IN THE WFIRST PROJECT FOR A PERIOD OF I YEAR TO BE EXTENDED DEPENDING ON HIS PERFORMANCE. MR. NGUYEN WILL BE ASSIGNED TO SUPPORT THE WFIRST LEAD SCIENTIST (DR. LADDAWAN) IN PROVIDING THE ENGINEERING SUPPORT FOR TESTING AND CHARACTERIZATION OF FOCAL PLANE ARRAY DETECTORS FOR THE WFIRST PL'OJECT. MT . NGUYEN WLLL PERFORM HIS 1 ESEARCH UNDER THE DIRECTION OF THE CUA PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR DR. NEHMETALLAH AND IN CLOSE PARTNERSHIP WITH NASA SCIENTISTS. WFIRST THE WIDE FIELD INFRARED SURVEY TELESCOPE IS A NASA OBSERVATORY DESIGNED TO SETTLE ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS IN THE AREAS OF DARK ENERGY EXOPLANETS AND INFRARED ASTROPHYSICS. THE TELESCOPE HAS A PRIMARY MIRROR THAT IS 2.4 METE1 S IN DIAMETER (7.9 FEET) AND IS THE SAME SIZE AS THE HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE'S PRIMARY MIRROR. WFIRST WILL HAVE TWO INSTL'UMENTS THE WIDE FIELD INSTRUMENT AND THE CORONAGRAPH INSTN1MENT. THE WIDE FIELD INSTRUMENT WILL HAVE A FIELD OF VIEW THAT IS I 00 TIMES GREATER THAN THE HUBBLE INFRARED INSTRUMENT CAPTURING MORE OF THE SKY WITH LESS OBSERVING TIME. AS THE PRIMARY INSTRUMENT THE WIDE FIELD INSTRNMENT WILI MEASURE LIGHT FROM A BILLION GALAXIES OVER TL1E COURSE OF THE MISSION LIFETIME. IT WILL PERFO1M A MICROLENSING SURVEY OF THE INNET MILKY WAY TO FIND ~2 600 EXOPLANETS. THE CORONAGRAPH INSTRUMENT WILL PERFORM HIGH CONTRAST IMAGING AND SPECTROSCOPY OF DOZENS OF INDIVIDUAL NEARBY EXOPLANETS. WFIRST IS DESIGNED FORA 6 YEAR MISSION AND WILL LAUNCH ON AN EELV OUT OF CAPE CANAVERAL. FIG I SHOWS A TYPICAL DESIGN OF THE WFIRST.