The International Symposium on Combustion and Plasma Synthesis of High Temperature Materials focuses on three related areas of materials synthesis: Solid-State Combustion Synthesis, Gas-Phase Combustion Synthesis, and Plasma Synthesis of ceramic and metallic phases including composite materials. The Symposium is international in character. It aims at accomplishing the following: a. Address in an open forum for the first time in the US the topic of solid-state combustion and thus help stimulate activities in this area of research. This will particularly be enhanced by presentations on well established activities from aboard, especially Japan and the Soviet Union. b. Bring together researchers from the three areas of investigation listed above to facilitate the exchange of ideas on problems related to synthesis and processing of materials. c. Help focus attention on the potential of this process for technology transfer to industrial firms dealing with materials preparation and processing. d. Acquaint graduate students and post-doctoral fellows in the fields of Materials Science, Chemical Engineering, and Chemistry with this area of research. The Symposium is a valuable input to the objectives of NSF, and in particular to the Combustion/Plasma program (CBTE). This area of rapidly advancing research is significant to the US future performance in international competitiveness.