When I was a student in the 60's, research in most physics departments are focused in elementary particles or solid state physics (some in astronomy, as in UGA). To prepare students for those frontiers, the core curriculum - which included equilibrium statistical mechanics - was adequate. Over the last decade or two, other disciplines blossomed onto the physics scene, from biophysics and econophysics to neuroscience and climate science. Most of the stochastic processes in these areas, on the other hand, take place under nonequilibrium conditions. Unfortunately, an overarching framework for such systems is far from being in place. Though many condensed matter theorists are engaged at this frontier, the general goal of understanding how complex collective behavior emerge from simple microscopic rules remains elusive. As an example of the difficulties we face, consider predicting the existence of a tree from an appropriate collection of H,C,O,N,... atoms! After a brief summary of the crucial differences between systems in thermal equilibrium (in standard text-books) and ones in nonequilibrium steady states, I will give a bird's-eye view of some key issues, ranging from the "fundamental" to the "applied." The methods used also span a wide spectrum, from computer simulations to stochastic field theoretic techniques. These will be illustrated in the context of an overview of my work, as well as one or two examples.