000002744 001__ 2744 000002744 005__ 20160706140701.0 000002744 037__ $$aASTROimport-901 000002744 100__ $$aBoyer, M. L. 000002744 245__ $$aDiscovery of Extreme AGB Stars in the Dwarf Galaxies of the Local Group: First Results from the DUST In Nearby Galaxies with Spitzer (DUSTINGS) program 000002744 260__ $$c2014 000002744 520__ $$aAsymptotic Giant Branch (AGB) stars may be the dominant stellar dust source in galaxies, potentially driving galactic chemical evolution. Specifically, the dustiest ``extreme'' AGB stars, which comprise 5% of the AGB population, provide more than 70% of the AGB-produced dust in the Magellanic Clouds (Riebel et al. 2012; Boyer et al. 2012). Despite their importance, these stars have only been studied in detail in the Magellanic Clouds, which cover a limited range in metallicity. Here, we present the first results of the DUST In Nearby Galaxies with Spitzer (DUSTINGS) post-cryogen Spitzer program. The DUSTINGS program was designed to identify and characterize these extreme AGB stars in a complete infrared census of resolvable Local Group (2 Mpc) dwarf galaxies, which span a wide range of galactic environments. We find hundreds of extreme AGB star candidates and estimate their dust-injection rates. 000002744 700__ $$aMcQuinn, K. B. 000002744 700__ $$aBarmby, P. 000002744 700__ $$aBonanos, A. Z. 000002744 700__ $$aGehrz, R. D. 000002744 700__ $$aGordon, K. D. 000002744 700__ $$aGroenewegen, M. 000002744 700__ $$aLagadec, E. 000002744 700__ $$aLennon, D. 000002744 700__ $$aMarengo, M. 000002744 700__ $$aMeixner, M. 000002744 700__ $$aSkillman, E. D. 000002744 700__ $$aSloan, G. C. 000002744 700__ $$aSonneborn, G. 000002744 700__ $$avan Loon, J. T. 000002744 700__ $$aZijlstra, A. 000002744 773__ $$c355.07$$pAmerican Astronomical Society Meeting Abstracts #223$$v223$$y2014 000002744 85642 $$ahttp://esoads.eso.org/abs/2014AAS...22335507B 000002744 905__ $$apublished in 000002744 980__ $$aNONREF