Building a comprehensive
picture for the evolution of galaxies from early times through present epoch
requires understanding a huge dynamic range of physical processes. With
observations ranging from detections of galaxies less than a billion years
after the Big Bang to stellar and molecular cloud mass spectra in the Milky
Way, the challenge has been to develop a concordance theory for galaxy
formation than simultaneously explains this diverse range of observed galaxy
properties across cosmic epoch. At the heart of many of the central questions
in the astrophysics of galaxy evolution lies the physics of the interstellar medium, and galactic-scale star formation. In this talk, I
will describe how understanding the relationship between small scale star
formation physics and global galaxy evolution processes can lead to
considerable insight in long-standing problems in both fields.