Home > Exhibits & Events > CU @ the Boulder Public Library
CU at the Boulder Public Library
Lectures typically take place on the second Tuesday of each month from September through May. Lectures are held in the Canyon Theater at the Main Library, 1000 Canyon Blvd. beginning at 7:00 p.m. Free and open to the public.
For more information call 303-441-4113 or email outreach@colorado.edu.
CU @ BPL is sponsored by the CU-Boulder Outreach Committee, the Boulder Public Library, and the Boulder Arts Commission.
Upcoming Programs
Tuesday, December 9
Associate Professor Bruce Jakosky, Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP)
Mars
7 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 9, in the Canyon Theater at the Main Library. Free and open to the public. After Earth, Mars is arguably the planet in our solar system most likely to have life. Whether it does have life or not, we can learn a lot about possible habitats and the nature of planetary habitability by studying it. There are currently six spacecraft operating at Mars. These are providing a wealth of new information about Mars and its potential to have life. Associate Professor Bruce Jakosky from CU-Boulder’s Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP) will discuss the potential for life on Mars, the ongoing program of spacecraft study of the red planet, and what the future holds in store.
Past Programs
Tuesday, October 14
Assistant Professor Matt Sponheimer, Department of Anthropology
Discovering new insights into the lives of early human ancestors
Associate Professor Matt Sponheimer from CU-Boulder's Anthropology Department will tell about his research into early human ancestors from Africa who lived more than a million years ago. He will share clues about their travels and diets he found through detailed studies of their teeth by using a new laser technique. The program will be presented at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 14 at the Main Library's Canyon Theater.
Visit the online calendar entry for this event to sign up for a reminder email or text message.
Tuesday, September 9
The Beetles Are Coming
Professor Jeff Mitton, Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology
The mountain pine beetle is in the midst of its largest epidemic in recorded history. The geographic infestation extends from Colorado to Edmonton to Vancouver to San Bernadino. Biologists in the Forest Service have predicted that every mature lodgepole pine in Colorado will be dead within five years.
Professor Jeff Mitton of the CU-Boulder Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Department will give an illustrated presentation on the life history of the beetle and a description of the struggle between attacking beetles and a tree. Information will describe how tiny beetles can kill immense trees, and will discuss the factors contributing to this unprecedented bark beetle epidemic.
Images & Stories: African Children in Context
Instructor Nii Armah Sowah
April 8, 2008
Environmental Estrogens: Sex, Lies and Water Supplies
Professor David Norris
March 11, 2008
Cool & Creative Chemistry
CU-Boulder Chemistry and Biochemistry Club
February 12, 2008
Sustainability 101: Arithmetic, Population and Energy
Professor Emeritus Al Bartlett
January 8, 2008
This talk warned of the effects of population growth as it influences rates of consumption of nonrenewable resources. Professor Emeritus Al Bartlett, of the University of Colorado at Boulder physics department, has given this lecture over 1,540 times since 1969. Bartlett begins with a striking observation: "The greatest shortcoming of the human race is our inability to understand the exponential function." He cites the first law of sustainability, which states that population growth and/or growth in the rates of consumption cannot be sustained. "The world is full of well-meaning people," Bartlett notes, "who work diligently on topics of sustainability without ever getting down to telling people this most obvious and fundamental fact."