Following a brief historical introduction of the notions of chaos in
dynamical systems, we will present recent developments that attempt to profit
from the rich structure and complexity of the chaotic dynamics. In particular,
we will demonstrate the ability to control chaos in realistic complex
environments. Several applications will serve to illustrate the theory and to
highlight its advantages and weaknesses. The presentation will end with a
survey of possible generalizations and extensions of the basic formalism as
well as a discussion of applications outside the field of the physical
sciences. Future research avenues in this rapidly growing field will also be
addressed.Comment: 18 pages, 9 figures. Invited Talk at the XXIth International
Conference on the Physics of Electronic and Atomic Collisions (ICPEAC), July
22-27, 1999 (Sendai, Japan
