Live Faculty Talks
Join us for unique and thought provoking live talks throughout the year.
The University of Colorado at Boulder is a Tier 1 research university and employs many of the world's expert scientists.
This lecture series provides a great opportunity to hear from these leading researchers about their work and the impact on the scientific community and our society as a whole.
These are a part of our regular talk series. Regular ticket prices apply.
CU Boulder students are admitted FREE on THURSDAY NIGHT TALKS with valid Buff OneCard.
Please be aware that our shows and some talks may incorporate one or several of the following features: bright lights, flashing visuals, loud sounds, or intense motion effects.
Upcoming Live Faculty Talks
October 4, 2025 at 7pm
Celebrate NASA's International Observe the Moon Night with our fulldome film Forward! To the Moon, supported by NASA and Lockheed Martin.
Kari Byron from MythBusters narrates the film and launches us on a journey beyond the Earth towards a sustainable future in space. NASA’s 21st century Artemis program, named after the Greek moon Goddess and twin of Apollo, is the next step in our mission to explore the universe. Dr. Jack Burns from NASA's NESS program will join us to talk about his research and last year's landing on the Moon with the first radio telescope.
After the film and talk, stay and enjoy Stars & Moons. Also, you can observe the moon through the telescopes at Sommers-Bausch Observatory during one of the weekly Open Houses from 8-10pm.
Bio: Jack Burns, Ph.D. is Professor Emeritus in the Department of Astrophysical and Planetary Sciences and Professor Emeritus in the Department of Physics, both at the University of Colorado (CU) Boulder, and is Vice President Emeritus for Academic Affairs and Research for the CU System. Jack is also the Director and Principal Investigator of the NASA-funded Network for Exploration and Space Science. In addition, he has longstanding ties with NASA and served on the NASA Advisory Council from 2008-2010, Chair of the Council’s Science Committee from 2009-2010, and as a member of the 2016-2017 Presidential NASA transition team. Additionally, Jack served as the Senior Vice President of the American Astronomical Society from 2014-2017.
October 16 & 17, 2025 at 7pm
Take an astronomical journey and travel back in time as we reminisce about the mind-boggling discoveries and technological breakthroughs made since Fiske was founded. Our illustrious APS professors, Fran Bagenal, Ben Brown and Andrew Hamilton, will explore current research and aspirations for uncovering questions that still remain.
Event run time: 7-8:30pm
TICKETS:
$15 Adult general admission
$11.25 Fiske Member admission
$10 Students/Seniors/Military/Youth general admission
This talk is part of our Fiske is 50 anniversary celebration.
November 6 & 7, 2025 at 7pm
What can you learn about the Sun while flying by at ~400,000 miles per hour, so close to the surface that parts of your spacecraft are glowing? A lot!
Join us on a journey to the Sun and back again with NASA's Parker Solar Probe mission. We'll follow the spacecraft as it dips toward the Sun, measuring the solar coronal plasma just as it blossoms out into interplanetary space as the solar wind.
Data from Parker Solar Probe mission is revealing our nearest star in a whole new light, teaching us about how the solar wind is powered, the origins of coronal mass ejections that drive space weather at Earth, how the Sun destroys the dusty remnants of asteroids and comets, and much more. Learn about this 'mission of firsts', from its historic origins to the completion of its prime mission in 2025 as well as the newest scientific results.
Bio:Dr. David Malaspina is an Assistant Professor in the Astrophysical and Planetary Sciences department at the University of Colorado, Boulder. His research focuses on the study of fundamental plasma physics in space environments and the development of spacecraft instruments to enable such studies. Using data from spacecraft, he has explored the Sun, the solar wind, the Earth's ionosphere and radiation belts, and the Lunar plasma environment. Knowledge of space plasmas is vital for understanding and predicting how solar activity, via space weather, impacts our increasingly technology-dependent society both on Earth and in space.
December 4 & 5, 2025 at 7pm
Everything glows. Everything emits light. Stars and light bulbs emit visible light we can see with our eyes; planets and people emit infrared light that can be felt as heat or seen with infrared cameras. In this talk, we will explore how astronomers use all kinds of light to observe planets orbiting other stars. These “exoplanets” are so distant they will never appear as anything more than mere twinkling points of light in the sky. Yet, with careful observations we can find them, measure the color of their sunsets, feel the heat emanating from their surfaces, determine the composition of their atmospheres, and maybe eventually search them for photosynthetic alien life. Join us for a friendly tour of some of the weird planets out there in the Universe and a celebration of the ways modern exoplanet science makes use of phenomena most people can experience on Earth: light, color, rainbows, eclipses, and curiosity.
Bio:Zach Berta-Thompson is an astronomy professor in the Department of Astrophysical and Planetary Sciences at the University of Colorado Boulder. He uses large and small telescopes, both on the ground and in space, to discover exoplanets orbiting other stars and to observe their atmospheres, using exoplanets as laboratories to understand the processes that sculpt planetary evolution and building careful steps toward eventually determining whether life exists outside the Solar System. Zach grew up as the son of two ceramic artists in Michigan, he studied with caring astronomers at Princeton, Harvard, and MIT, and he settled as a professor in Colorado in 2016. He leads a team of researchers and teaches students to practice using curiosity, creativity, coding, and kindness to learn more about how worlds work. Beyond astronomy, he enjoys yarn crafts, hiking with toddlers, and plants.
Watch this space for more amazing talks at Fiske.