"The direct imaging of planets around other stars has begun in earnest. The main challenge in imaging these faint companions is the large contrast between star and planet. By using a combination of adaptive optics, coronagraphs, thermal wavelength imaging and point spread function modeling, current ground based telescopes can search closer to target stars for extrasolar giant planets. The applicant proposes to continue his current exoplanet surveys using the facilities at Steward Observatory (the Large Binocular Telescope, LBT) and European facilities (the ESO Very Large Telescope, VLT) and characterize new discoveries with spectroscopy.In moving to Leiden, the applicant will use the resources to develop these exoplanet detection techniques, and start a project with a PhD student partly funded with this reintegration grant to measure the ground layer atmospheric turbulence at high telemetry rates for further analysis. By providing real world data for European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT) adaptive optics simulations, the performance of next generation of exoplanet instruments will be increased."