The discovery of high-temperature superconductivity in iron-based pnictide compounds has sparked a flurry of activity in the condensed matter physics community. With transition temperatures reaching close to 60 K, this exciting and rapidly expanding field of research has caused a surge of experimental and theoretical activity devoted to understanding this new family of materials. In this talk I will provide an overview of important research and a summary of the Maryland efforts in growth and characterization of single crystals and thin films of iron-pnictide compounds. In particular, I will discuss our studies of the anomalous superconducting instability in the undoped parent compound SrFe₂As₂ and our understanding of its origins and relations to ferromagnetism and lattice distortions. I will also review the growth and characterization of the Ni-doped superconductor series SrFe_2-xNi_xAs₂, as well as our ongoing study of the relation between magnetism and crystallographic structure in the solid solution series Sr_1-xCa_xFe₂As₂.