One of the most promising ideas in high energy particle
physics is supersymmetry---a symmetry relating bosonic and fermionic degrees
of freedom. Why is the idea of supersymmetry so appealing, despite there being
not a shred of experimental evidence for it? In addition to its mathematical
appeal, supersymmetry provides particularly simple resolutions to a number
of important questions in high energy particle physics. After an introduction
to supersymmetry, I will review some of these questions as well as the answers
provided by supersymmetry. Next, I will discuss how the (non-supersymmetric)
standard model might arise as the low energy limit of a supersymmetric theory,
and if there is time, I will briefly talk about the relation between supersymmetry
and string theory.