Live Faculty Talks
Join us for unique and thought provokingÌýlive 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 andÌýthe impactÌýon the scientific communityÌýand our society as a whole.
These are a part ofÌýour regular talk series. Regular ticket prices apply.Ìý
91´«Ã½ students are admitted FREE on THURSDAY NIGHT TALKS with valid Buff OneCard.Ìý
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.
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Upcoming Live Faculty Talks
April 2 & 3, 2026 at 7pm
In the last three decades, the explosion of exoplanet discoveries has demonstrated that, on average, every star in the Milky Way hosts a planetary system. With so many planets now discovered, our next challenge is characterizing the atmospheres of those planets to assess their potential habitability and search for the signs of active biology. In this talk, Dr. France will highlight recent exoplanet discoveries and describe the role that the University of Colorado’s Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP) is playing in developing the science, hardware, and training the next generations of scientists and engineers for NASA’s upcoming flagship exoplanet mission, the (HWO). Dr. France will describe the HWO mission and how the University of Colorado is developing hardware on small satellites and rocket missions, and how we use these missions to train the students who will lead NASA’s future missions like HWO and beyond.
Bio:Kevin France is a professor in the University of Colorado’s and in the Department of Astrophysical and Planetary Sciences. He is an expert on space instruments for astrophysics and the study of extrasolar planets. He had led approximately 10 NASA rocket and small satellite missions at LASP, works extensively with the Hubble Space Telescope, and is engaged with NASA’s development of future observatories to find habitable planets beyond the solar system.
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April 16 & 17, 2026 at 7pm
We live in the extended atmosphere of a star, impacted by the photons, particles, and magnetic fields it emits. Telescopes, working in all different regimes of the electromagnetic spectrum, from X-rays to the radio, continuously observe the Sun allowing us to study its complex behavior. With the arrival of the , the world's largest Sun-dedicated telescope, we can now see details on the solar surface that are as small as Denver, or about 25 km across. We are also sending spacecraft, such as the , to brave the Sun's heat and fly deep into the Sun's corona. But what would it be like if we could travel ourselves from Earth and plunge all the way into the Sun's atmosphere, whizzing past prominences and diving into sunspots? How hard would it be to survive the heat as we got closer? In the spirit of Jules Verne, we will take a journey to the center of the sun, exploring the strange and wonderful environment of stellar plasma, and find out what we are learning about these amazing solar phenomena.
Bio: Dr. Kevin Reardon is a scientist at the National Solar Observatory and a Research Professor in the Department of Astrophysical and Planetary Sciences. He has studied many different aspects of the solar activity, from the photosphere to the corona. He uses numerous telescopes from the ground and on satellites, from the x-ray to the millimeter wavelengths, as well as collecting data at multiple solar eclipses. He has always wanted to fly through the middle of a sunspot.
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Watch this space for more amazing talks at Fiske.