As stated above the purpose of this research is to enable workers in a variety of fields to understand the chemical and physical changes which take place when thin films (primarily organic films) are placed under chemical stress. This stress may occur because the film is being swelled by penetrant entrained in solvent, because interfacial reactions are occurring at one or more boundaries within the film structure, or because some component of the film is responding to an external stimulus (e.g. pH, temperature, electric field, or radiation). These questions are important within the context of our long-term goal of understanding the behavior of composite structures, composed of thin organic polymer films interspersed with Langmuir-Blodgett (LB) and self-assembled monolayers, which might have unique functional properties. In the past year we have concentrated on the following objectives: (1) understanding how the two possible diffusion mechanisms contribute to the swelling of thin films of organic polymers place in solution, (2) identifying systems which are appropriate polymer media for the construction of composite membranes for use in aqueous environments, and (3) understanding the self-assembly process for long chain fatty acids at model surfaces. Progress in meeting each of these objectives will be described in this report. 4 figs.