The RIKEN BNL Research Center (RBRC) was established in April 1997 at Brookhaven National Laboratory. It is funded by the Rikagaku Kenkysho (RIKEN) The Institute of Physical and Chemical Research, of Japan. The Center is dedicated to the study of strong interactions, including hard QCD/spin physics, lattice QCD and RHIC (Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider) physics through nurturing of a new generation of young physicists. The Director of RBRC is Professor T. D. Lee. The first years were dedicated to the establishment of a theory group. This has essentially been completed consisting of Fellows, Postdocs, and RHIC Physics/University Fellows, with an active group of consultants. The center also organizes an extensive series of workshops on specific topics in strong interactions with an accompanying series of published proceedings. In addition, a 0.6 teraflop parallel processor computer has been constructed and operational since August 1998. It was awarded the Supercomputer 1998 Gordon Bell Prize for price performance. An active experimental group centered around the spin physics program at RHIC has subsequently also been established at RBRC. It presently consists of five Fellows, one Postdoc and several scientific collaborators with more appointments being expected in the near future. Members and participants of RBRC on occasion will develop articles such as this one, in the nature of a status report or a general review.