M DWARFS ARE THE MOST COMMON TYPE OF STAR AND THE PLANETS THAT ORBIT THEM HOLD THE KEY TO UNDERSTANDING THE BROADER EVOLUTION OF TERRESTRIAL PLANETS AND THE DISTRIBUTION OF LIFE BEYOND EARTH. SEVERAL LIKELY TERRESTRIAL PLANETS HAVE BEEN FOUND ORBITING M DWARFS (BERTA-THOMPSON ET AL 2015; GILLON ET AL 2016 ANGLADA-ESCUDE ET AL 2016) INCLUDING SOME HABITABLE ZONE PLANETS. M DWARF PLANETS WILL BE ACCESSIBLE TO CHARACTERIZATION IN THE NEXT 5-10 YEARS BY THE JAMES WEBB SPACE TELESCOPE (JWST) AND GROUND-BASED OBSERVATORIES. HOWEVER DUE TO THE HIGH INITIAL LUMINOSITY FROM THE M DWARF HOST STAR THESE PLANETS LIKELY UNDERGO SUBSTANTIAL EVOLUTION THAT IS NOT EXPERIENCED BY PLANETS ORBITING MORE SUN-LIKE STARS. TO SELF-CONSISTENTLY EXPLORE THE NATURE AND CHARACTERIZATION OF M DWARF TERRESTRIAL PLANETS IN ADVANCE OF UPCOMING MISSIONS WE WILL DEVELOP A RIGOROUS VERSATILE COUPLED CLIMATE-PHOTOCHEMISTRY FRAMEWORK TO MODEL THESE STAR-PLANET INTERACTIONS AND DETERMINE PLAUSIBLE ENVIRONMENTAL STATES AND THE LIKELIHOOD OF THEIR HABITABILITY. WE WILL GENERATE SIMULATED SPECTRA OF THESE ENVIRONMENTS TO IDENTIFY OBSERVABLE DISCRIMINANTS OF CURRENT PLANETARY ENVIRONMENTS AND EVOLUTIONARY HISTORY TO SELF-CONSISTENTLY EXPLORE THE NATURE AND CHARACTERIZATION OF M DWARF TERRESTRIAL PLANETS IN ADVANCE OF UPCOMING MISSIONS. THIS WORK WILL PROVIDE A SCIENTIFIC FOUNDATION FOR THE SELECTION OF ASTROBIOLOGICALLY SIGNIFICANT TARGETS AROUND M DWARF STARS AND SUPPORT THE OBSERVATIONAL PLANNING ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION OF SPECTRAL DATA TO BE TAKEN BY UPCOMING NASA MISSIONS. THE M DWARF PLANETARY MODELS WILL BE CONSTRUCTED FROM AN INTERDISCIPLINARY SYNTHESIS OF EXISTING ATMOSPHERIC AND PLANETARY EVOLUTION MODELS WITH SOLAR SYSTEM PLANETARY HERITAGE. THE CORE IS THE NEW NAI VIRTUAL PLANETARY LABORATORY ONE-DIMENSIONAL CLIMATE MODEL WHICH CALCULATES TEMPERATURE PROFILES HEATING RATES CONVECTION AND CONDENSATION (ROBINSON ET AL 2012). THE MULTI-STREAM MULTIPLESCATTERING LINE-BY-LINE SPECTRAL MAPPING ATMOSPHERIC TRANSFER (SMART) CODE (MEADOWS&CRISP 1996) WILL BE USED TO COMPUTE THE CLIMATE MODEL S RADIATIVE TRANSFER AND TO PRODUCE SIMULATED ATMOSPHERIC TRANSMISSION AND REFLECTANCE SPECTRA. THE CLIMATE MODEL WILL BE COUPLED TO PHOTOCHEMISTRY AND EMPLOY ATMOSPHERIC ESCAPE MODELS TO PRODUCE THE BEST POSSIBLE CHARACTERIZATION OF ATMOSPHERE INTERACTIONS WITH THE PARENT STAR. TO COPE WITH HIGH PROBABILITY OF SLOWLY ROTATING TIDALLY-LOCKED STATE OF PLANETS ORBITING M DWARFS A TWO-COLUMN SCHEME WITH ATMOSPHERIC AND OCEANIC HEAT TRANSPORT WILL BE IMPLEMENTED WHICH HAS BEEN SHOWN TO REPRODUCE THE GLOBAL RESULTS OF 3D MODELS (YANG&ABBOT 2014). COUPLING 3D-APPROXIMATING 1.5D CLIMATE CAPABILITIES WITH PHOTOCHEMISTRY WILL ALLOW US TO RIGOROUSLY PROBE A LARGE NUMBER OF KEY ATMOSPHERIC PARAMETERS IN ADVANCE OF IMMINENT OBSERVATIONS OF THESE PLANETS. THE DEVELOPMENT OF THESE MODELS WILL ENSURE CONTINUED INTERDISCIPLINARY TRAINING IN PLANETARY SYSTEMS SCIENCE FOR A PH.D. GRADUATE STUDENT AND WILL HAVE A HIGH POTENTIAL TO IMPACT NASA SCIENCE AND MISSIONS. IN PARTICULAR THE RESULTING M DWARF PLANETARY MODELS WILL IDENTIFY PLANETARY STATES AND CHARACTERISTICS IN A WIDE PHASE SPACE FOR TERRESTRIAL PLANETS UNLIKE THOSE IN OUR SOLAR SYSTEM CRUCIAL INFORMATION FOR COMPARATIVE PLANETOLOGY. THESE MODELS CAN INFORM TARGET SELECTION---ESPECIALLY FOR ASTROBIOLOGICALLY RELEVANT TARGETS--- FOR UPCOMING NASA MISSIONS. THESE RESULTS WILL ALSO ENHANCE OBSERVATION PLANNING AND DATA ANALYSIS FOR M DWARF PLANET OBSERVATIONS OF EXCITING TARGETS LIKE PROXIMA CENTAURI B AND THE TRAPPIST-1 SYSTEM FOR JWST AND INFORM MISSION DESIGN FOR THE HABEX AND LUVOIR MISSION CONCEPTS.