This proposal is concerned with the construction of a new soft x-ray (SX) emission spectrometer and SX spectroscopy end station associated with an undulator beamline at the Advanced Light Source (ALS) at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory. The undulator and high performance spherical grating monochromator will provide 40 times greater photon fluxed and 200 times higher brightness that will be used to enhance the intensity and/or resolution of the exciting radiation. The spectrometer and end station will greatly extend the present spectral range measured in emission, allow measurement of emission both perpendicular and parallel to the polarization direction of the exciting beam, allow measurement of both absorption and emission spectra, greatly enhance in-situ sample preparation and characterization facilities, and permit joint SX spectroscopy and electron spectroscopy studies with other users of the beamline. The construction project involves scientists at the University of Tennessee, Oak Ridge National Laboratory and NIST. This group will jointly operate this undulator beamline at the ALS with an IBM group from both Almaden and Yorktown.