There are three Mini-Workshops scheduled for this conference and the first one is now underway. Dr. John Knapman will be directing this Workshop aimed at getting several small groups to focus on the various Research Activities needed to advance our understanding of the space elevator. John categorized several different topics (broadly categorized into topics that some work has been done on and those topics that have been largely untouched) and some of these will be focused on by these various groups. The goals of this workshop, as in all workshops, are to get people brainstorming about these topics and come up with ideas and action items to attack them.