Small Stars with Small Planets and Big Consequences

The field of extrasolar planets is rapidly evolving.  The quest to discover ever-more and ever-smaller exoplanets has pushed the field in two primary detections: (1) toward a comprehensive assessment of the frequency and statistics of various types of exoplanets--used as a guide for planet formation and evolution theories--and (2) toward characterizing the composition, atmosphere and evolution of individual exoplanets as though they were planets in our own Solar System. I will discuss the importance of low-mass stars in this context, emphasizing the phenomenal results from the Kepler Mission, and our efforts to characterize individual terrestrial exoplanets orbiting low-mass stars with existing and novel instrumentation.