DRIVEN BY THE NASA-DIRECTED SEARCH FOR EARTH-LIKE PLANETS WE FIND THAT UNDERSTANDING WHETHER A ROCKY PLANET MAY HAVE ATMOSPHERIC BIOSIGNATURES REQUIRES A MUCH-IMPROVED UNDERSTANDING OF THEIR GEOCHEMICAL CYCLES WHICH DIRECTLY PRODUCE O_2 AND CH_4. HOWEVER THE STELLAR ABUNDANCE DATA NEEDED TO MODEL THE INTERIOR AND NEAR-SURFACE GEOCHEMICAL PROCESSES ON THE ROCKY PLANETS -- WHICH ARE MORE EASILY DETECTED AROUND COOL M-DWARF STARS -- IS SEVERELY LACKING. THESE ABUNDANCES ARE USED AS A PROXY FOR PLANETARY COMPOSITION SINCE STARS AND PLANETS ARE FORMED FROM THE SAME MOLECULAR CLOUD. HOWEVER M-DWARF SPECTRA IN THE OPTICAL BAND ARE DOMINATED BY MOLECULAR FEATURES (VO AND TIO) WHICH MAKE ABUNDANCE MEASUREMENTS DIFFICULT. INFRARED M-DWARFS SPECTRA HAVE A MORE WELL-DEFINED CONTINUUM BUT SUFFER FROM TELLURIC ABSORPTION SUCH THAT THE AVAILABLE ABSORPTION FEATURES ARE NOT WELL CHARACTERIZED RELATIVE TO OPTICAL LINES. AS A RESULT ONLY A FEW ELEMENTS (E.G. C N O CA AND FE) HAVE BEEN MEASURED WITHIN A SMALL NUMBER OF M-DWARF STARS (~120 STARS) MEANING THAT WE ARE UNABLE TO DETERMINE LARGE-SCALE CHEMICAL TRENDS THAT LINK THE STARS WITH THEIR PLANETS. IN THIS PROPOSAL WE WILL DEVELOP AN INFRARED ABUNDANCE PIPELINE THAT IS SPECIFICALLY TAILORED TO MODEL THE PHYSICS WITHIN COOLER M-DWARF STARS. WE WILL BASE THE PIPELINE ON THE OBSERVATIONS AND SUBSEQUENT ABUNDANCE MEASUREMENTS OF ELEMENTAL AND MOLECULAR LINES IN 22 M-DWARF STARS HOSTING 40 PLANETS. WE WILL UTILIZE GROUND-BASED INFRARED INSTRUMENTATION SPECIFICALLY IGRINS (HK-BAND) -- ON WHICH WE HAVE GUARANTEED TIME THROUGH THE UT CONSORTIUM (SUCH THAT 14 TARGET SPECTRA WILL BE IN-HAND BY MAY 2021) AS WELL AS ISHELL ON IRTF. BY USING THE ABUNDANCES OF THE HOST STAR WE WILL APPLY THE THERMODYNAMICALLY SELF-CONSISTENT EXOPLEX MASS-RADIUS SOFTWARE PACKAGE AND ITS PLANET CLASSIFICATION SCHEME TO OUR SAMPLE OF M-DWARF PLANETS TAKING INTO ACCOUNT ALL MEASURED UNCERTAINTIES. THESE MODELS WILL STATISTICALLY TEST HOW COMPOSITIONALLY SIMILAR THE EXOPLANETS ARE TO THEIR HOST-STARS. PLANETS CONSISTENT WITH THE COMPOSITION OF THE HOST STAR CAN BE CLASSIFIED AS ROCKY PLANETS. PLANETS THAT ARE CHEMICAL DISCREPANT FROM THE HOST STAR REQUIRE SPECIAL GEOCHEMICAL CIRCUMSTANCES TO EXPLAIN THEIR DIFFERENCES (E.G. MANTLE STRIPPING OR SIGNIFICANT H2 ATMOSPHERE). WE WILL ALSO INCLUDE WITHIN OUR SAMPLE ANY NEW TESS OR JWST M-DWARF PLANETS WITH ESTABLISHED PLANETARY MASSES AND/OR RADII DISCOVERED DURING THE TIME FRAME OF THIS PROPOSAL. OUR AGNOSTIC PLANETARY CLASSIFICATION SCHEME WILL ALLOW US TO MORE CONFIDENTLY ASSESS THE INTERIOR STRUCTURE MINERALOGY AND GEOCHEMICAL CYCLES ON THESE M-DWARF PLANETS. THIS PROJECT WILL HELP FULFILL ONE OF THE PRIMARY GOALS OF THE NASA EXOPLANET RESEARCH PROGRAM NAMELY TO "EXPLORE THE CHEMICAL AND PHYSICAL PROCESSES OF EXOPLANETS (INCLUDING THE STATE AND EVOLUTION OF THEIR SURFACES INTERIORS AND ATMOSPHERES)" WHILE ALSO "OBSERVATIONALLY CHARACTERIZING EXOPLANETS THEIR ATMOSPHERES OR SPECIFIC HOST STAR PROPERTIES THAT DIRECTLY IMPACT OUR UNDERSTANDING OF THE EXOPLANETARY SYSTEM." MORE SPECIFICALLY THIS PROPOSAL WILL ALLOW US TO BUILD THE TOOLS NECESSARY TO CHEMICALLY CHARACTERIZE MDWARFS AND THEIR ROCKY PLANETS IN AN UNPRECEDENTED MANNER. ULTIMATELY WE WILL BUILD THE MACHINERY NECESSARY TO PROVIDE A CLEAR STAR ROCKY PLANET CHEMICAL LINK PAVING THE WAY FOR FASTER EASIER PLANETARY CLASSIFICATION FOR CURRENT AND FUTURE NASA MISSION TARGETS.