Program: GN-2013B-Q-56

The study of gamma-ray burst (GRB) afterglows, host galaxies, and associated supernovae (SNe) sheds light on a wide range of open questions in astrophysics, ranging from the deaths of massive stars to cosmic chemical enrichment and the reionization epoch, and soon, the electromagnetic (EM) counterparts of gravitational wave (GW) sources. Over the past decade, Gemini has played a leading role in all aspects of GRB science through its combination of rapid-response spectroscopy and imaging coupled with deep late-time host galaxy, afterglow, and GRB-SN follow-up. Here, we propose to step forward in our long-standing program of ToO observations, with this proposal focusing on "Standard ToO" science, enabled by observations at t >∼ 1 day. In conjunction with an array of multi-wavelength EM facilities, we focus on three key science topics: (1) Aggressive imaging and spectroscopic campaigns to discover and characterize the associated supernovae of the lowest-redshift (z <~ 0.5) GRBs, (2) Characterizing host galaxy environments and gathering extended light curves for short GRBs, as candidate compact binary merger events, for connection with forthcoming GW facilities, and (3) Gathering extended light curves of exceptionally energetic bursts detected by the Fermi-LAT instrument, to measure the degree of collimation and total energy release of these events.