th The 13 Winter Workshop on Nuclear Dynamics is the latest installment in a series of workshops that was started in 1978. This series has grown into a tradition, bringing together experimental and theoretical expertise from all areas of the study of nuclear dynamics. As always, the organizers had placed emphasis on the important aspect of cross­ fertilization between the different energy regimes and wa.ys of viewing a collision of energetic nuclei. This emphasis is reflected in the broad range of topics covered in these proceedings. Phase transitions in nuclear collisions received most of the attention during this workshop, as indicated by the number of contributions on this subject. Many of the questions in connection with these topics remain not settled and will have a huge impact on the physics that can be extracted from experiments at the future Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider. While the experimental program at the AGS is winding down, the NSCL upgrade and RHIC promise a bright future for our field in the USA. In Europe and Asia, major new facilities are under construction as well. The excitement and anticipation in connection with these new opportunities are reflected in these proceedings as well. Wolfgang Bauer Michigan State University Alice Mignerey University of Maryland v PREVIOUS WORKSHOPS The following table contains a list of the dates and locations of the previous Winter Workshops on Nuclear Dynamics as well as the members of the organizing committees. The chairpersons of the conferences are underlined.