WE PROPOSE TO CONDUCT EARTH-BASED RADAR OBSERVATIONS OF NEAR-EARTH ASTEROIDS (NEAS). RADAR ASTRONOMY PROVIDES AN EXTREMELY POWERFUL TOOL TO CHARACTERIZE THE PHYSICAL PROPERTIES AND DYNAMICS OF NEAS. THIS CHARACTERIZATION IS ESSENTIAL TO ADVANCE SCIENTIFIC UNDERSTANDING OF THE POPULATION IMPACT HAZARD MITIGATION HUMAN EXPLORATION AND RESOURCE UTILIZATION. OUR INVESTIGATION IS BASED ON A COMBINATION OF OBSERVATION ANALYSIS MODELING AND ARCHIVING TASKS WITH PARTICULAR ATTENTION DEVOTED TO TRAINING THE NEXT GENERATION OF RADAR ASTRONOMERS. OUR SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES ARE 1) TO OBSERVE AND CHARACTERIZE TWO HIGH-VALUE NEAS PER YEAR WITH RADAR; 2) TO DEVELOP IMPROVED SHAPE MODELING TOOLS; 3) TO ESTABLISH A PUBLIC REPOSITORY OF NEA RADAR KNOWLEDGE AND IMPROVE DATA ARCHIVAL TOOLS. OUR METHODOLOGY CONSISTS OF ACQUIRING DATA AT ONE OF THE PLANETARY RADAR FACILITIES PROCESSING THESE DATA WITH WELL-ESTABLISHED RADAR IMAGING TECHNIQUES INVERTING THE SEQUENCE OF IMAGES WITH SHAPE MODELING ALGORITHMS AND MAXIMIZING THE SCIENCE RETURN BY QUANTIFYING PHYSICAL AND DYNAMICAL PROPERTIES TESTING SPECIFIC HYPOTHESES AND PROVIDING IN-DEPTH INTERPRETATIONS. THE PROPOSED INVESTIGATION DIRECTLY ADDRESSES TWO OF THE THREE FUNDAMENTAL SCIENCE QUESTIONS DESCRIBED IN THE 2014 NASA SCIENCE PLAN: 1) "HOW DID OUR SOLAR SYSTEM FORM AND EVOLVE?"; 2) "WHAT ARE THE HAZARDS TO LIFE ON EARTH?" IT ALSO ADDRESSES SCIENCE GOALS FORMULATED BY NASA'S PLANETARY SCIENCE DIVISION: 1) "EXPLORE AND OBSERVE THE OBJECTS IN THE SOLAR SYSTEM TO UNDERSTAND HOW THEY FORMED AND EVOLVE"; 2) "ADVANCE THE UNDERSTANDING OF HOW THE CHEMICAL AND PHYSICAL PROCESSES IN OUR SOLAR SYSTEM OPERATE INTERACT AND EVOLVE"; 3) "IDENTIFY AND CHARACTERIZE OBJECTS IN THE SOLAR SYSTEM THAT POSE THREATS TO EARTH OR OFFER RESOURCES FOR HUMAN EXPLORATION". THIS INVESTIGATION FALLS WITHIN THE SCOPE OF THE NEAR EARTH OBJECT OBSERVATIONS (NEOO) PROGRAM ELEMENT BECAUSE IT ADDRESSES TWO IMPORTANT GOALS OF THIS PROGRAM ELEMENT: 1) RADAR ASTROMETRY PROVIDES ORDERS-OF-MAGNITUDE IMPROVEMENTS TO THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE TRAJECTORIES OF POTENTIALLY HAZARDOUS OBJECTS AND THEREFORE ENABLES THE CHARACTERIZATION OF THAT POPULATION THROUGH DETERMINATION OF THEIR ORBITAL ELEMENTS; 2) RADAR OBSERVATIONS PROVIDE EXQUISITE PHYSICAL CHARACTERIZATIONS OF POTENTIALLY HAZARDOUS ASTEROIDS OF ALL SIZES AND THEREFORE ENABLES THE CHARACTERIZATION OF A REPRESENTATIVE SAMPLE OF THESE OBJECTS BY MEASURING THEIR SIZES SHAPES AND COMPOSITIONS. BECAUSE THE PROPOSED INVESTIGATION IS RESPONSIVE TO TWO PRIMARY GOALS OF THE NEOO PROGRAM ELEMENT AND NOT DIRECTLY RESPONSIVE TO GOALS OF OTHER PROGRAM ELEMENTS THE NEOO PROGRAM ELEMENT IS THE MOST APPROPRIATE FOR THE WORK PROPOSED.