This volume contains the lectures presented at the 12th Annual Hampton University Graduate Studies at the Continuous Electron Beam Accelerator Facility (HUGS at CEBAF), which took place at Jefferson Lab and Hampton University from June 2nd to June 20th, 1997. It reflects the current quest for understanding strong interaction physics in the nonperturbative regime and its connections with the fundamental theory of the strong interactions, i.e. QCD. This quest is shaping current theoretical and experimental efforts in nuclear physics, as manifested by the experimental programs at Jefferson Lab and other facilities, and theoretical approaches that keep a rigorous connection with QCD, such as the method of chiral Lagrangians.
