This talk will attempt to provide an overview of our present understanding of the properties of strongly interacting matter. I will discuss several findings from the experimental program at RHIC and try to put them in context with recent results from Lattice QCD calculations. I will then discuss how our present understanding of the properties of strongly interacting matter can be tested in future experiments at RHIC and LHC. Finally I will present and critically discus strategies for the experimental identification of a possible QCD critical point and phase-coexistence region.

Argonne Physics Division Colloquium Schedule