The STAR Forward GEM Tracker

The STAR collaboration is preparing a tracking detector upgrade, the Forward GEM Tracker (FGT), which will focus on novel spin physics measurements in high-energy polarized proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of $500\,$GeV, determining the flavor dependence ($\Delta \bar{u}$ versus $\Delta \bar{d}$) of the polarized sea. STAR plans to probe these polarized distribution functions using parity violating W production in the electron/positron decay mode. This upgrade will consist of six triple-GEM detectors with two dimensional readout arranged in disks along the beam axis. The FGT project has completed an extensive R$\&$D program of industrially produced GEM foils at Tech-Etch Inc. in comparison to GEM foils produced at CERN based on optical measurements, testbeam and $^{55}$Fe source measurements of a triple-GEM prototype detector using $10\times 10$cm$^{2}$ GEM foils. The FGT project requires large GEM foils ($\sim 40\times 40$cm$^{2}$) which are currently being tested. The FGT design, the status of large GEM foil tests, the performance of triple-GEM prototype detectors based on industrially produced GEM foils along with the status of the FGT construction and the installation schedule will be presented.