The SFiNCs ( Star Formation in Nearby Clouds ) project is an X-ray/infrared study of the young stellar populations in 22 star forming regions with distances \la 1 kpc designed to extend our earlier MYStIX survey of more distant clusters .
Our central goal is to give empirical constraints on cluster formation mechanisms .
Using parametric mixture models applied homogeneously to the catalog of SFiNCs young stars , we identify 52 SFiNCs clusters and 19 unclustered stellar structures .
The procedure gives cluster properties including location , population , morphology , association to molecular clouds , absorption , age ( Age _ { JX } ) , and infrared spectral energy distribution ( SED ) slope .
Absorption , SED slope , and Age _ { JX } are age indicators .
SFiNCs clusters are examined individually , and collectively with MYStIX clusters , to give the following results .
( 1 ) SFiNCs is dominated by smaller , younger , and more heavily obscured clusters than MYStIX .
( 2 ) SFiNCs cloud-associated clusters have the high ellipticities aligned with their host molecular filaments indicating morphology inherited from their parental clouds .
( 3 ) The effect of cluster expansion is evident from the radius-age , radius-absorption , and radius-SED correlations .
Core radii increase dramatically from \sim 0.08 to \sim 0.9 pc over the age range 1 - 3.5 Myr .
Inferred gas removal timescales are longer than 1 Myr .
( 4 ) Rich , spatially distributed stellar populations are present in SFiNCs clouds representing early generations of star formation .
An Appendix compares the performance of the mixture models and nonparametric Minimum Spanning Tree to identify clusters .
This work is a foundation for future SFiNCs/MYStIX studies including disk longevity , age gradients , and dynamical modeling .