A sequence of programs and related research objectives are described. The achievement of each of these objectives then permits a rational choice of design parameters for successive devices. The first step proposed here, denoted EBT-S, requires increasing the EBT magnetic field to permit microwave heating at 18 and 28 GHz, as compared to the present 10.6- and 18-GHz configuration. We anticipate a three-fold increase in plasma density, some increases in the temperatures, and opportunity to test the validity of the transport models presently used to predict the plasma parameters. This step will provide important operating experience with the 28-GHz power supplies, which are prototype tubes for millimeter sources at 120 GHz. In the second step a new, superconducting bumpy torus, EBT-II, would be fabricated to permit microwave heating at 90 and 120 GHz. This device would be designed to produce plasma densities and temperatures comparable to those of present-day tokamaks and to test the plasma physics scaling of EBT confinement. The third and less well-defined step is EBT-T, which would be designed to test the technology scaling of a very high-power microwave-heated device. This would be followed by EBT-IT, which would be aimed at ignition, the logical goal for amore » steady state toroidal device. This report reviews the experimental and theoretical research on EBT that has been carried out to date or formulated for the near future, and provides a status report as well as a research program plan.« less