THIS PROPOSAL SEEKS FUNDING UNDER THE EARLY CAREER FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM TO SUPPORT EFFORTS RELATED TO THE DISCOVERY OF NEW MAIN-BELT COMETS (MBCS). THESE EFFORTS WILL SUPPORT A GENERAL LONG-TERM PROGRAM FOCUSED ON STUDYING THESE INTERESTING OBJECTS BUT WHICH WILL ALSO IMPACT OTHER AREAS OF PLANETARY SCIENCE. FUNDING IS ALSO REQUESTED TO SUPPORT VARIOUS CAREER DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITIES. MBCS ARE A RECENTLY IDENTIFIED CLASS OF SMALL SOLAR SYSTEM OBJECTS THAT EXHIBIT COMETARY ACTIVITY INDICATIVE OF ICE SUBLIMATION YET DYNAMICALLY BELONG TO THE MAIN ASTEROID BELT. MUCH OF THE INTEREST IN THESE OBJECTS IS DUE TO (1) THE IMPLICATION THAT MBC ACTIVITY IS DRIVEN BY THE SUBLIMATION OF VOLATILE MATERIAL (PRESUMED TO BE WATER ICE) (2) INDICATIONS THAT MOST MBCS LIKELY FORMED IN SITU IN THE MAIN ASTEROID BELT AND (3) THE POSSIBILITY THAT ICY BODIES FROM THE ASTEROID BELT WERE A SIGNIFICANT PRIMORDIAL SOURCE OF THE EARTH S CURRENT WATER INVENTORY. WITH MBCS AS TRACERS OF THE DISTRIBUTION AND ABUNDANCE OF ICE IN THE ASTEROID BELT WE NOW HAVE A POTENTIALLY POWERFUL MEANS FOR PROBING THE PLAUSIBILITY OF THIS LATTER HYPOTHESIS AND ALSO FOR GAINING INSIGHTS INTO AND PLACING CONSTRAINTS ON THE FORMATION OF OUR SOLAR SYSTEM IN GENERAL. EFFECTIVELY USING MBCS AS COMPOSITIONAL TRACERS OF VOLATILE MATERIAL CRUCIALLY DEPENDS ON HAVING A SUFFICIENTLY LARGE AND REPRESENTATIVE SAMPLE POPULATION. IN ORDER TO ENSURE THAT ONLY ICE-BEARING OBJECTS ARE USED AS COMPOSITIONAL TRACERS DISCOVERIES OF ACTIVE OBJECTS MUST ALSO BE ACCOMPANIED BY OBSERVATIONAL FOLLOW-UP TO DISTINGUISH MBCS FROM DISRUPTED ASTEROIDS. FINALLY WE MUST UNDERSTAND THE COLLISIONAL DYNAMICAL AND THERMAL EVOLUTION THAT HAS OCCURRED OVER TIME FOR INDIVIDUAL OBJECTS TO DETERMINE HOW TO USE THE PRESENTDAY DISTRIBUTION OF MBCS TO INFER THE PRIMORDIAL DISTRIBUTION OF ICE IN THE SOLAR SYSTEM I.E. THE KEY INFORMATION ACTUALLY NEEDED TO CONSTRAIN EARLY SOLAR SYSTEM FORMATION AND EVOLUTION. A COMMON THREAD IN EACH OF THESE LINES OF RESEARCH IS THE NEED FOR IMPROVED DISCOVERY TECHNIQUES LEADING TO A LARGER POPULATION OF KNOWN MBCS. FEWER THAN A DOZEN MBCS ARE KNOWN TODAY ALTHOUGH HUNDREDS ARE EXPECTED TO EXIST PREVENTING US FROM DISCERNING THEIR TRUE ABUNDANCE AND DISTRIBUTION. ALSO LIMITED ARE THE SCOPES OF OBSERVATIONAL FOLLOW-UP CAMPAIGNS THAT CAN BE PERFORMED IF ONLY A FEW OBJECTS MEET PARTICULAR CRITERIA (E.G. ARE OBSERVABLE AND/OR ARE ACTIVE) AT A PARTICULAR TIME. LASTLY ONLY WITH A LARGE NUMBER OF WELL-STUDIED OBJECTS CAN WE PROPERLY CHARACTERIZE THE OVERALL PROPERTIES OF THE POPULATION AND THUS CONSTRAIN KEY PARAMETERS IN MODELS OF THE COLLISIONAL DYNAMICAL AND THERMAL EVOLUTION OF THESE OBJECTS. WITH THESE ISSUES IN MIND I REQUEST ECF SUPPORT TO FOCUS ON THIS SPECIFIC COMPONENT (THE DISCOVERY OF NEW MBC CANDIDATES) OF MY LONG-TERM RESEARCH EFFORTS (A MULTI-FACETED INVESTIGATION OF THE MBCS INVOLVING DISCOVERY OBSERVATIONAL CHARACTERIZATION AND THEORETICAL ANALYSES). SPECIFICALLY I WILL (1) INVESTIGATE AND DEVELOP ALTERNATIVE TECHNIQUES FOR DETECTING COMETARY ACTIVITY (2) DEVELOP AND USE SOFTWARE FOR SEARCHING FOR COMETARY ACTIVITY IN ARCHIVAL OPTICAL AND INFRARED DATA AND (3) DEVELOP AND EXECUTE A SCIENTIFIC AND FUNDING STRATEGY FOR FUTURE ANALYSIS OF THE GROWING MBC POPULATION. THESE TASKS WILL HELP TO BOLSTER THE LONG-TERM VIABILITY OF MBCS AS AN ACTIVE SUBJECT OF RESEARCH ENHANCE THE VALUE OF EXISTING PROJECTS AS WELL AS THEIR POTENTIAL FOR CREATING A RANGE OF FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES IN THE LONG TERM AND HELP LAY THE FOUNDATIONS OF FUTURE PROPOSALS TO NASA PROGRAMS AND OTHER FUNDING AGENCIES. SUPPORT IS ALSO REQUESTED FOR THE PREPARATION OF PROPOSALS (WHICH LEVERAGE EXISTING FUNDED PROGRAMS) TO SEEK FUNDING FOR POSTDOCTORAL HIRES AS WELL AS OTHER CAREER DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITIES.