SCIENCE GOALS AND OBJECTIVES: WE PROPOSE TO ATTACK MAINLY THROUGH NUMERICAL MODELING SOME MAJOR OUTSTANDING PROBLEMS IN THE CORE NUCLEATED ACCRETION THEORY OF THE FORMATION OF THE GIANT PLANETS IN THE SOLAR SYSTEM. THIS WORK WILL ACCOUNT FOR IMPORTANT PHYSICAL PROCESSES HERETOFORE NEGLECTED AND THEREBY PROVIDE A MUCH MORE REALISTIC MODEL FOR THE FORMATION AND EARLY EVOLUTION OF THE GIANT PLANETS. DURING THE EARLY STAGES OF GIANT PLANET ACCRETION WITH A ROCKY CORE OF AROUND AN EARTH MASS THE BASAL TEMPERATURE OF THE HYDROGEN ATMOSPHERE ABOVE THIS GROWING CORE CAN ALREADY EXCEED A FEW THOUSAND DEGREES SUFFICIENT TO ALLOW EVAPORATION OF ACCRETED PLANETESIMALS WITHIN THE ENVELOPE. THIS MAY AFFECT THE GROWTH OF THE GIANT PLANET PRIMARILY BY INCREASING THE MEAN MOLECULAR WEIGHT OF THE ENVELOPE (REDUCING THE PRESSURE SCALE HEIGHT) AND IT MAY ALSO PRODUCE A WIDER RANGE OF POSSIBLE OUTCOMES FOR GIANT PLANET FORMATION THAN THOSE PREVIOUSLY STUDIED. THE CONSEQUENCES MAY BE PARTIALLY PRESERVED THROUGHOUT SUBSEQUENT EVOLUTION AND INFLUENCE THE INTERNAL STRUCTURE OF THE GIANT PLANETS TODAY. TO STUDY THE EFFECTS OF THIS PROCESS WE WILL COMPUTE THE AMOUNT OF MIXING OF THE CONSTITUENTS WITHIN THE PLANETS DURING THEIR GROWTH. THIS ADDITIONAL PHYSICS WILL BE INCORPORATED INTO DETAILED NUMERICAL STUDIES OF THE CONCURRENT ACCRETION OF SOLIDS AND GAS INCLUDING AN IMPROVED TREATMENT OF INTERACTIONS OF THE GROWING PLANETS WITH THE SURROUNDING PROTOPLANETARY DISK.