[en] The main emphasis of this research effort is the simultaneous study of several of the scattering processes that occur in negative ion-atom collisions. These include: elastic scattering, target excitation/ionization, single electron detachment, and double electron detachment. The measurements will provide absolute total and differential cross sections for the aforementioned processes. These are extremely valuable in providing stringent tests of the approximations used in the various theoretical calculations. This period covers the first year of the grant and the vast majority of the activity was directed toward construction of the apparatus needed to carry out the proposed measurements. Progress toward these goals are summarized. 2 refs., 1 fig