NASA S KEPLER MISSION HAS REVEALED THAT WORLDS WITH SIZES BETWEEN THOSE OF EARTH AND NEPTUNE ARE EXTREMELY COMMON. WHETHER THESE PLANETS ARE ROCKY WITH SECONDARY ATMOSPHERES INFLUENCED BY GEOPHYSICAL PROCESSES (I.E. SUPER-EARTHS) OR HAVE THICK ATMOSPHERES OF HEAVILY METAL-ENRICHED SOLAR GAS (I.E. MINI-NEPTUNES) REMAINS AN OPEN QUESTION. IN REALITY THESE UBIQUITOUS PLANETS LIKELY PRESENT A HUGE RANGE OF ATMOSPHERIC TYPES AND (IF APPLICABLE) SURFACE CONDITIONS. HOWEVER THERE DOES NOT EXIST A SYSTEMATIC EXPLORATION OF THE RANGE OF ATMOSPHERIC AND SURFACE CONDITIONS FOR PLANETS SPANNING THE TERRESTRIAL TO GASEOUS REGIMES. WITHOUT SUCH AN EXPLORATION WE REMAIN IN THE DARK AS TO WHAT THE SPECTRAL DISCRIMINANTS ARE FOR DISTINGUISHING THESE DIFFERENT TYPES OF WORLDS BE IT THROUGH TRANSIT EMISSION OR REFLECTION SPECTROSCOPY. THUS WE DO NOT YET KNOW THE EXTENT TO WHICH FUTURE EXOPLANET-THEMED MISSIONS WILL BE ABLE TO DISTINGUISH AND CHARACTERIZE SUPER-EARTHS AND MINI-NEPTUNES. WE PROPOSE TO USE A TRUSTED EXOPLANET CLIMATE MODEL TO EXPLORE A WIDE RANGE OF PLANET TYPES AND ASSOCIATED ATMOSPHERIC STATES. FROM OUR GRID OF FORWARD-MODELED EXOPLANET CLIMATES WE WILL PRODUCE (AND DISTRIBUTE) A LARGE COLLECTION OF TRANSIT EMISSION AND REFLECTION SPECTRA. FINALLY BY EMPLOYING OUR GROUP'S STATE-OF-THE-ART RETRIEVAL TOOLS WE WILL EXPLORE KEY SPECTRAL DISCRIMINANTS AND OBSERVABLES FOR SUPER-EARTH AND MINI-NEPTUNE EXOPLANETS. THESE RETRIEVAL STUDIES WILL IDENTIFY IDEAL OBSERVING STRATEGIES FOR NASA S JWST AND WILL INVESTIGATE THE EXTENT TO WHICH DIRECT IMAGING CAN BE USED TO SPECTRALLY CHARACTERIZE SMALL WORLDS. OUR DIRECT IMAGING STUDIES COME AT A CRITICAL TIME AS WITHOUT OUR WORK HABEX LUVOIR AND WFIRST-RENDEZVOUS WOULD ALL BE COMPETED IN THE 2020 DECADAL SURVEY WITH NO CLEAR STUDIES OF HOW EFFECTIVE THESE MISSIONS COULD BE AT CHARACTERIZING THE ATMOSPHERES OF SOME OF THE MOST COMMON PLANET TYPES IN THE GALAXY. OUR PROPOSED WORK IS RELEVANT TO BOTH NASA S STRATEGIC PLAN AND TO THE EXOPLANET RESEARCH PROGRAM. WE AIM TO SHED LIGHT ON NEW AND EXCITING CATEGORIES OF PLANETS THAT SPAN A RANGE OF ATMOSPHERIC AND (POTENTIALLY) SURFACE CONDITIONS THAT ARE RELEVANT TO THE ORIGIN AND EVOLUTION OF LIFE. ADDITIONALLY LEARNING TO DISTINGUISH MINI-NEPTUNES FROM SUPER-EARTHS IS A KEY STEP TOWARDS DEVELOPING TECHNIQUES TO IDENTIFY POTENTIALLY HABITABLE EXOPLANETS. THESE THEMES WORK TO MEET NASA S STRATEGIC PLAN OBJECTIVE 1.6 ( DISCOVER HOW THE UNIVERSE WORKS EXPLORE HOW IT BEGAN AND EVOLVED AND SEARCH FOR LIFE ON PLANETS AROUND OTHER STARS ). OUR PROPOSED WORK ALSO SUPPORTS THE EXOPLANET RESEARCH PROGRAM S GOAL OF UNDERSTANDING EXOPLANETARY SYSTEMS AND MEETS THE PROGRAM S EXPECTATIONS OF RESEARCH THAT (1) HELPS TO CONFIRM EXOPLANET CANDIDATES THAT WOULD BE VALUABLE TARGETS FOR FUTURE NASA OBSERVATORIES (2) DEVELOPS IDEAS RELATED TO THE OBSERVATIONAL CHARACTERIZATION OF EXOPLANETS AND THEIR ATMOSPHERES WITH TIES TO PLANNED AND FUTURE NASA OBSERVATORIES AND (3) AIMS TO UNDERSTAND KEY PHYSICAL AND CHEMICAL PROCESSES RELATED TO EXOPLANET ATMOSPHERES.