Next generation astronomical observatories and the Maunakea Spectroscopic Explorer*

The next decade will see great advances in ground-based astronomy's spectroscopic observing capabilities: facilities that are under development today will have larger collecting areas and greater spectroscopic multiplexing capabilities than ever before, and are sure to revolutionize the scientific productivity of our field. In this talk I will review existing and near-future observatories that will lay the scientific and technological groundwork for next-generation projects such as the Maunakea Spectroscopic Explorer project, a massively multiplexed spectroscopic facility currently under development in Hawaii that features an 11.25m diameter primary mirror which feeds 4,332 fibers and a suite of low- and high-resolution spectrographs.