Progress towards the measurement of the electric dipole moment of $^{225}$Ra*

Ongoing searches in many laboratories for a permanent electric dipole moment (EDM) in the atom underscore the importance of this window into physics beyond the Standard Model. The lack of an observed EDM in $^{199}$Hg has set impressive limits on the strength of Parity (P)-and Time (T)-invariance violating interactions in the nucleus. We are in the process of developing a next generation experiment to search for an EDM in laser-cooled and trapped $^{225}$Ra. $^{225}$Ra is predicted to be more than two orders of magnitude more sensitive to these interactions than $^{199}$Hg due to a larger nuclear charge, the octupole deformation in the $^{225}$Ra nucleus, and the collective nature of (P,T)-odd nuclear moments. We will present the challenges associated with $^{225}$Ra, discuss our results from laser spectroscopy on a beam of $^{225}$Ra atoms, and report on our progress towards producing a laser-cooled and trapped sample of these atoms. We will also present a measurement of the lifetime of the 7s7p $^{3}$P$_{1}$ state.