Self-assembled semiconductor quantum dots have been demonstrated for many optoelectronic devices (lasers, optical amplifiers, and photodetectors) and proposed for novel applications such as quantum computing. However, there is still a lack of fundamental knowledge about the optical and electronic properties of these quantum dots, such as homogeneous linewidth, oscillator strength, coupling, and carrier escape mechanisms, especially at the single quantum dot level. We invite proposals that will investigate these or other fundamental characteristics of self-assembled quantum dots.