  We use HST NICMOS continuum and Pa-alpha observations to study the
near-infrared and star-formation properties of a representative sample of 30
local (d ~ 35-75Mpc) luminous infrared galaxies (LIRGs, infrared 8-1000um
luminosities of L_IR=11-11.9[Lsun]). The data provide spatial resolutions of
25-50pc and cover the central ~3.3-7.1kpc regions of these galaxies. About half
of the LIRGs show compact (~1-2kpc) Pa-alpha emission with a high surface
brightness in the form of nuclear emission, rings, and mini-spirals. The rest
of the sample show Pa-alpha emission along the disk and the spiral arms
extending over scales of 3-7kpc and larger. About half of the sample contains
HII regions with H-alpha luminosities significantly higher than those observed
in normal galaxies. There is a linear empirical relationship between the mid-IR
24um and hydrogen recombination (extinction-corrected Pa-alpha) luminosity for
these LIRGs, and the HII regions in the central part of M51. This relation
holds over more than four decades in luminosity suggesting that the mid-IR
emission is a good tracer of the star formation rate (SFR). Analogous to the
widely used relation between the SFR and total IR luminosity of Kennicutt
(1998), we derive an empirical calibration of the SFR in terms of the
monochromatic 24um luminosity that can be used for luminous, dusty galaxies.
