  We study the evolution of the star formation rate (SFR) of mid-infrared (IR)
selected galaxies in the extended Chandra Deep Field South (E-CDFS). We use a
combination of U-K GaBoDS and MUSYC data, deep IRAC observations from SIMPLE,
and deep MIPS data from FIDEL. This unique multi-wavelength data set allows us
to investigate the SFR history of massive galaxies out to redshift z ~ 1.8. We
determine star formation rates using both the rest-frame ultraviolet luminosity
from young, hot stars and the total IR luminosity of obscured star formation
obtained from the MIPS 24 um flux. We find that at all redshifts the galaxies
with higher masses have substantially lower specific star formation rates than
lower mass galaxies. The average specific star formation rates increase with
redshift, and the rate of incline is similar for all galaxies (roughly
(1+z)^{n}, n = 5.0 +/- 0.4). It does not seem to be a strong function of galaxy
mass. Using a subsample of galaxies with masses M_*> 10^11 M_sun, we measured
the fraction of galaxies whose star formation is quenched. We consider a galaxy
to be in quiescent mode when its specific star formation rate does not exceed
1/(3 x t_H), where t_H is the Hubble time. The fraction of quiescent galaxies
defined as such decreases with redshift out to z ~ 1.8. We find that, at that
redshift, 19 +/-9 % of the M_* > 10^11 M_sun sources would be considered
quiescent according to our criterion.
