DURING THE PERIOD COVERED BY THIS PROJECT WE WILL WORK ON THREE SPECIFIC TASKS THAT FALL UNDER THE AUSPICES OF THE NAI GRANT THAT WILL FUND THE PROPOSED CONSORTIUM. THESE INCLUDE: (1) DOPPLER SPECTROSCOPY USING THE APF TELESCOPE. PI LAUGHLIN HAS A LONG---RUNNING COLLABORATION WITH PROF. STEVEN S. VOGT (UCSC/LICK OBSERVATORY) AND DR. R. PAUL BUTLER (CARNEGIE DTM). LAUGHLIN WILL CONTINUE TO PARTICIPATE IN THE COLLECTION OF HIGH---PRECISION (1 M/S) DOPPLER OBSERVATIONS OF NEARBY STARS IN ORDER TO DETERMINE THE MASSES THE ORBITS HE DYNAMICAL STRUCTURE (IN THE CASE OF MULTIPLE---PLANET SYSTEMS) AND THE POTENTIAL HABITABILITY OF PLANETS ORBITING THE APF PROGRAM STARS. LAUGHLIN WILL PERFORM ORBITAL FITTING AND UNCERTAINTY MODELING DYNAMICAL N---BODY INTEGRATIONS (AND OTHER DYNAMICAL CALCULATIONS) AND WHERE APPROPRIATE HYDRODYNAMICAL MODELING OF THE INSOLATION---DRIVEN METEOROLOGICAL FLOWS ON THE PLANETS THAT APF DETECTS. HE WILL ALSO LEAD THE PREPARATION OF RESULTS FOR PUBLICATION IN THE PEER---REVIEWED LITERATURE. (2) THEORETICAL STUDIES OF PROTOSTELLAR DISK PROCESSES. THE CHEMICAL EVOLUTION OF PROTOPLANETARY DISKS THAT ARE THE PRECURSORS TO PLANETARY SYSTEMS IS A COMPLEX HIGHLY NONLINEAR PROCESS. USING CONSORTIUM FUNDING LAUGHLIN WILL CONTINUE ONGOING RESEARCH INTO THE USE OF VORTICITY---PRESERVING HYDRODYNAMICAL SCHEMES THAT MODEL THE ACCRETION TURBULENCE AND LARGE---SCALE NON---AXISYMMETRIES THAT CHARACTERIZE PROTOPLANETARY DISKS. (3) TRANSIT TIMING ANALYSES. AT YALE POSTDOCTORAL FELLOW DR. SONGHU WANG WILL APPLY STATE---OF---THE---ART TRANSIT TIMING ANALYSES TO DETERMINE THE MASSES AND ORBITS OF PLANETS THAT ARE DISCOVERED WITHIN NEAR---RESONANT MULTIPLE---TRANSITING SYSTEMS (DISCOVERED BOTH FROM GROUND AND FROM SPACE USING RESULTS FROM THE KEPLER AND K2 MISSIONS). A SPECIAL NEAR---TERM FOCUS OF THE WORK (WHICH WILL FUND DR. WANG S PARTICIPATION) CONCERNS ACQUISITION OF TRANSIT DATA FOR THE TRAPPIST---1 MULTIPLE--- PLANET SYSTEM (DATA TO BE OBTAINED DURING A 10---NIGHT OBSERVING RUN IN SUMMER 2017 AT PALOMAR OBSERATORY).