0 Assigned ID: 1605 ----- Attempting Submission 1 (Fri Mar 01 18:12:20 GMT 2013) ----- The idea that massive stars self-enrich their immediate surroundings on very short timescales has haunted emission-line spectroscopists for the last 27 years. Kunth and Sargent (1986) were the first to draw attention to this potentially significant flaw in the common practice of using HII regions to trace galaxy metallicity. In the years since, we have made little progress observationally in understanding the impact of the metal-rich winds of massive stars on the derived chemical abundances of their HII regions. Nonetheless, metallicity, as determined from emission line nebulae, remains one of the most important diagnostic tools of the extragalactic astronomer. We propose an archival study using STIS FUV spectra (E140M and E140H) of numerous massive stars in the LMC (11 total) and SMC (37 total) to determine the neutral gas-phase abundances along these lines-of-sight. We will then compare these results for the metal content of the neutral ISM to the ionized gas metallicities along the same lines-of-sight determined from ground-based optical spectroscopy of the local HII regions. This proposed study represents the first direct observational test of HII region self-enrichment on parsec-sized scales. As such, it will be a large step forward in finally confronting the skeleton in the astronomer's closet that is HII region self-enrichment. ISM IN EXTERNAL GALAXIES Default Small false true false false false SUPPORTED