  We describe a technique for deriving effective temperatures, surface
gravities, rotation velocities, and radial velocities from high resolution
near-IR spectra. The technique matches the observed near-IR spectra to spectra
synthesized from model atmospheres. For pre-main sequence stars, we use the
same matching process to also measure the amount of excess near-IR emission.
The information derived from high resolution spectra comes from line shapes and
the relative line strengths of closely spaced lines. The values for the stellar
parameters we derive are therefore independent of those derived from low
resolution spectroscopy and photometry. The new method offers the promise of
improved accuracy in placing young stellar objects on evolutionary model
tracks. We discuss the possible systematic effects on our determination of the
stellar parameters and evaluate the accuracy of the results derivable from high
resolution spectra. The analysis of high resolution near-IR spectra of MK
standards shows that the technique gives very accurate values for the effective
temperature. The biggest uncertainty in comparing our results with optical
spectral typing of MK standards is in the spectral type to effective
temperature conversion for the standards themselves. Even including this
uncertainty, the 1 sigma difference between the optical and IR temperatures for
3000-5800 K dwarfs is only 140 K. In a companion paper (Doppmann, Jaffe, &
White 2003), we present an analysis of heavily extincted young stellar objects
rho Oph.
