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While it is tempting to label computational materials modeling as an emerging field of research, the truth is that both in nature and foundation, it is just as much an established field as the concepts and techniques that define it. It is the recent enormous growth in computing power and communications that has brought the activity to the forefi-ont, turning it into a possible com­ ponent of any modem materials research program. Together with its increased role and visibility, there is also a dynamic change in the way computational modeling is perceived in such a vast field as materials science with its wide range of length and time scales. As the pace of materials research accelerates and the need for often inaccessible information continues to grow, the de­ mands and expectations on existing modeling techniques have progressed that much faster. Primarily because there is no one technique that can provide all the answers at every length and time scale in materials science, excessive expectations of computational materials modeling should be avoided if pos­ sible. While it is apparent that computational modeling is the most efficient method for dealing with complex systems, it should not be seen as an alter­ native to traditional experimentation. Instead there is another option, which is perhaps the one that is most likely to become the defining characteristic of computational materials modeling.

The 1999 international conference on Information Processing in Medical Imaging (IPMI'99) was the sixteenth in the series of biennial meetings and followed the successful meeting in Poultney, Vermont, in 1997. This year, for the rst time, the conference was held in central Europe, in the historical Hungarian town of Visegr ad, one of the most beautiful spots not only on the Danube Bend but in all Hungary. The place has many historical connections, both national and international. The castle was once a royal palace of King Matthias. In the middle ages, the Hungarian, Czech, and Polish kings met here. Recently, after the summit meeting of reestablished democracies in the area, it became a symbol for the cooperation between central European countries as they approached the European Union. It was thus also symbolic to bring IPMI, in the year of the 30th anniversary of its foundation, to this place, and organize the meeting with the close cooperation of local and traditional western organizers. It also provided a good opportunity to summarize brie?y a history of IPMI for those who were new to the IPMI conference. This year we received 82 full paper submissions from all over the world. Of these, 24 were accepted as oral presentations. These were divided into 6 sessions. In spite of our e orts, it was found to be impossible to make these sessions fully balanced and homogeneous.