Book excerpt: The 24th Symposium attracted over 250 submissions, predominantly on growth and characterization. Compound semiconductors have become pervasive in applications that are unique and could not be addressed in any other viable manner, such as laser diodes in compact disk players, high brightness LEDs in automotive tail lights, low noise and low power amplifiers in cellular phones, infra-red diodes in remote controls, low noise amplifier front ends in televisions, and the recent high-brightness blue LEDs. Many of the contributions that engendered these novel products were first reported at the International Symposium on Compound Semiconductors. The procceedings of this conferences are an essential reference for all researchers in semiconductor physics, optoelectronics, electronic and electrical engineering, researching the properties and applications of compound materials.