Heavy-Ion Collisions - Examining the Quark Gluon Plasma at RHIC

The main goals of relativistic heavy-ion experiments is to study the properties of QCD matter under extreme temperatures and densities. The focus of this talk is the studies that are underway at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC), located at the Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) on Long Island, New York, U.S.A. I discuss selected highlights from the past couple of years that are key to elucidating the characteristics of the new state of matter created in these heavy-ion collisions, called a Quark Gluon Plasma.