To illustrate the wide field of research conducted in the Stieltjes Institute, in this chapter a research `highlight' from each of the four main areas is presented.
For Algebra and Geometry, R.H. Dijkgraaf, professor of Mathematics at the University of Amsterdam and permanent staff member of the programme `Algebraic and Analytic Geometry' has contributed a paper on `String Theory: A Happy Marriage of Geometry and Physics'.
For Analysis, S.M. Verduyn Lunel of the University of Amsterdam and permanent staff member of the programme `Operator Theory and Applications' discusses `Nonselfadjoint Problems'.
Stochastics is represented by A.W. van der Vaart, professor of Statistics at the Free University of Amsterdam and permanent staff member of the programme `Statistics' with a paper named `Infinite-dimensional Likelihood Methods in Statistics'.
For Operations Research such a highlight is `Transient behaviour of Large Networks' by F.M. Spieksma from Leiden University, Post Doc researcher in the programme `Stochastic Operations Research'.