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While dust constitutes a small fraction of a galaxy.s interstellar medium comma it has an outsized impact on its spectral energy distribution (SED) by reddening and attenuating the light from stars. The effects of dust are degenerate with those of the galaxy.s star formation history comma because stellar populations of different ages can be subject to different levels of attenuation in the presence of patchy dust. We propose to separate the variations of the ultraviolet-to-nearIR (UV-to-NIR) dust attenuation from those of the star formation history in star-forming galaxies comma by leveraging the multi-wavelength and high resolution capabilities of HST. We will complement archival HST data with new ACS and WFC3 broad and narrow-band imaging to probe the SEDs of the stars and the hydrogen recombination lines of H-alpha and Pa-beta to model the spatially-resolved stellar populations comma gas emission comma and dust in five nearby galaxies hosting central starbursts. The five starbursts are selected based on their global far-infrared and UV emission properties comma which deviate from those of typical starbursts in the local Universe comma making them puzzling outliers. FUV (1600 Angstrom) to NIR (virgul1.6 micron) SEDs of individual star clusters and HII regions will provide necessary constraints to separate variations of stellar ages in patchy dust from variations of the shape and normalization of the dust attenuation curve. Our study will provide a benchmark for dust attenuation corrections directly applied to UV-to-NIR SEDs. This will remain the only viable option to derive physical parameters for the large high-redshift galaxy surveys produced by the JWST comma Roman comma Euclid comma and ELTs.