A survey of surface temperatures, rotation rates, and chemical abundances of white dwarfs in cataclysmic variable systems (both magnetic and non-magnetic) will be performed. The principle tools to be employed are multi-component synthetic spectral fitting over a wide wavelength range (X-ray, uv, visible) and evolutionary model simulations with time varying accretion. Particular attention will be paid to the properties of the white dwarfs and boundary layer structure in nonmagnetic, disk-accreting systems when they are exposed during the quiescences of dwarf novae and the low optical brightness states of nova-like variables, as well as the properties of the white dwarfs in magnetic CVs (polars and intermediate polars) when they are in low brightness states. The overall goal is to better understand the ages, evolutionary histories, masses, diffusion rates, angular momentum transfer mechanisms, nucleosynthesis histories, and many other aspects of these white dwarfs and cataclysmic variable systems, which in turn will yield insight into novae, Type Ia supernovae, and Galactic chemical evolution. Several undergraduate students will be involved in all aspects of these studies, from acquisition, to reduction, to analysis, to publication of results in journals and presentations at national meetings.
