STAR: Recent Results and Future Physics Program

Two major advantages of the STAR detector - uniform azimuthal acceptance complementing extended pseudo-rapidity coverage, and the ability to identify a wide variety of the hadron species in almost all kinematic ranges - have allowed us to address successfully a set of key physics topics at RHIC. We report here selected recent results from the STAR experiment, including insights on system size effects on medium properties, hadronization mechanisms, and partonic energy loss from triggered and non-triggered probes. In conclusion, we present an outlook on the STAR new physics program in upcoming years.