Journal of Statistical Physics, Vol. 54, Nos. 5/6, 1989. p. 1111-1119.
A brief introduction to the field is given together with an overview of the lectures given at the workshop on External Noise and its Interaction with Spatial Degrees of Freedom in Nonlinear Dissipative Systems organized by the Center for Nonlinear Studies at Los Alamos, March 28-31, 1988. It is hoped that the publication of papers presented at the workshop in a single issue of the Journal of Statistical Physics will help draw attention to the recent developments in this rapidly area of nonequilibrium phenomena.