THE SITING OF GROUND-MOUNTED, LARGE-SCALE SOLAR DEVELOPMENTS HAS BECOME A CONTENTIOUS ISSUE IN SOUTHERN NEW ENGLAND. THE GOALS OF THIS INTEGRATED RESEARCH/EXTENSION PROJECT ARE TO PROVIDE NEW ESTIMATES OF BENEFITS AND COSTS (VALUATION) OF VARIOUS SOLAR SITING CHOICES, INCREASE KNOWLEDGE OF DECISION-MAKERS ABOUT THESE BENEFITS AND COSTS, ADVANCE STATE-LEVEL POLICIES AND LOCAL-LEVEL ORDINANCES THAT REFLECT THE RESULTS OF THIS PROJECT'S VALUATION RESEARCH, AND POTENTIALLY SHIFT SOLAR DEVELOPMENT TO REFLECT PREFERENCES IDENTIFIED THROUGH THE RESEARCH RESULTS. SITING DECISIONS IMPACT AGRICULTURE, FOREST LANDS, AND RURAL COMMUNITIES, AND THE PROJECT OUTPUTS HAVE THE POTENTIAL TO QUICKLY IMPACT POLICY, AND THUS THIS PROJECT DIRECTLY CONTRIBUTES TO AFRI PROGRAM AREA PRIORITY G.1 CRITICAL AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH AND EXTENSION (CARE).TO ACCOMPLISH PROJECT GOALS, OUR PROJECT OBJECTIVES ARE: 1) ASSESS PRIMARY STAKEHOLDER KNOWLEDGE GAPS THAT CAN BE ADDRESSED WITH ECONOMIC RESEARCH, 2) ESTIMATE THE EXTERNAL VALUATION OF PROXIMATE SOLAR FARMS USING A HEDONIC PRICING APPROACH, 3) EXAMINE WILLINGNESS TO PAY FOR A LARGE SET OF SOLAR SITING DECISION ATTRIBUTES USING A CHOICE EXPERIMENT SURVEY, 4) DISSEMINATE RESEARCH RESULTS TO PRIMARY STAKEHOLDERS THROUGH A VARIETY OF DELIVERY METHODS, AND 5) ASSESS EFFECT OF RESEARCH AND EXTENSION THROUGH MEASUREMENT OF STAKEHOLDER AWARENESS AND BEHAVIOR CHANGE RELATED TO SOLAR SITING DECISION-MAKING IN RHODE ISLAND. TO ACHIEVE OUR GOALS, WE HAVE STRUCTURED THE OBJECTIVES TO BEGIN AND END WITH EXTENSION EFFORTS, WHICH ACT AS BOOKENDS TO THE CORE RESEARCH OBJECTIVES. HOWEVER, STAKEHOLDER AND RESIDENT INVOLVEMENT IN WOVEN THROUGH THE RESEARCH OBJECTIVES AS WELL.