Overview of the Physics Program of the CMS Experiment

The exceptional performance of the Large Hadron Collider has allowed unprecedented study of the phenomena of the fundamental world. The Compact Muon Solenoid experiment (CMS) is using the data collected in the 2011 and 2012 campaigns to pursue some of the most important questions in modern physics: What is the origin of mass? What is dark matter? Are there really only 4 forces in the physical world? How did the matter-antimatter asymmetry of the universe arise? Are there additional dynamics in the fundamental world that we have not yet observed? Does the universe possess dimensions beyond the 3+1D world we are familiar with? In this talk, the physics program of the CMS experiment will be discussed, highlighting the measurements and searches that attempt to address these crucial open questions.