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The Present and Future of CU Wizards

Now in it's 45 year, the CU Wizards program, currently under the leadership of Co-Directors Professors John Bohn and David Nesbitt, continues to take place on the CU Boulder campus one Saturday each month during the academic year. Every year, CU Wizards professors present new shows, generously donating their knowledge, time, and energy to create engaging and informative experiences for the public. 

The shows continue to inspire and ignite a life-long curiosity and love of learning in young audience members, some who are attended shows with their parents who are proud to say that they also attended when they themselves were children. The CU Wizards, a decades old tradition at CU Boulder, continues to bring young people together with esteemed CU Faculty, staff and students to celebrate learning, science, technology, engineering, mathematics and innovation.

The Program's Beginning

In 1980, Professor Taylor secured funding to expand the CU Wizards program, allowing him to bring the "magic" of science to schools across the state. This traveling "Mr. Wizard" conducted shows at up to 20 different schools each year. From 1988 to 1991, Professor Taylor partnered with Larry Green from Denver Channel 4 to extend these science demonstrations to a wider audience, culminating in the Emmy Award-winning television series "Physics for Fun."

In 1991, Professor David Nesbitt was appointed as the CU Wizards show's director, and a group of professors at the University of Colorado agreed to take turns presenting free public shows each month during the academic year. Over the years since then, the CU Wizards program has expanded and fostered collaboration among faculty from various scientific disciplines, including Physics, Chemistry, Psychology, Physiology, Biology, Math, Engineering and Geology. The CU Wizards team now covers a diverse range of topics and are often reflective of each Wizard's respective field of study. 

Partnering with Science Discovery:

CU Wizards ventured again into multimedia in 1998 when Professor Nesbitt produced the "CU Wizards Video Series." This video series partnered the CU Wizards Show with CU Science Discovery and was made possible by funding from the CU Outreach Council. An additional grant from the council in 2005 funded the transferring of the show to DVD format along with the creation of a series of teaching guides to accompany the show.  

CU Wizards at Home Webinars: 

During the pandemic of 2020 through 2022 Wizards presented live Webinars to audiences who attended shows remotely from all across the globe. CU Wizards Professors presented live broadcasts from their homes were they demonstrated science experiments that children could try at home. The shows were recorded at are available under the videos tab in this website. Watch them to learn more about many ways to conduct science experiments from home!