Lecture demonstrations that earned an Emmy® nomination: James “Jim” Maynard, BS Chemistry ’00

For Jim Maynard, the dream of becoming a scientist at UW–Madison started young — around age six, in fact, when his sister used to sing “If you want to be a Badger” around the house. That early spark stuck, but the path to Madison ran through six years in the U.S. Navy first, more than four of them aboard the USS Haddo (SSN 604), a fast attack nuclear submarine. That service turned out to be the reason Maynard got to UW–Madison at all: without his enlistment, he wouldn’t have been accepted, and it was as a special student — admitted without the kind of stellar resume typically required at such a prestigious university — that he was able to enroll.

The path wasn’t easy from there, either. Maynard worked full-time at temporary jobs to support his family while completing his degree, balancing the rigor of a chemistry curriculum with the demands of providing for a household. It’s a chapter of his life he still thinks of with pride: “It was a triumph I will remember,” he says — one that, by his own account, was harder than nearly everything else in his career.

That perseverance paid off. “It took me from poverty and hardship to a comfortable career and the dignity of Science,” Maynard reflects. “My life was forever changed for the better when I graduated from UW–Madison.”

Today, Maynard has come full circle, working right back at UW–Madison as a Teaching, Learning and Technology Specialist III — known around the department as “The Lecture Demonstrator,” a role he’s held since January 2001. In that position, he prepares, performs, and cleans up the chemical lecture experiments that make chemistry come alive for students and the public, advancing the Wisconsin Idea through decades of outreach. He’s estimated to have performed chemical demonstrations for well over 100,000 UW–Madison and other students over his career, and has been a guest and contributor to public programs including the department’s Annual Christmas Lecture, produced by Emeritus Professor Bassam Shakhashiri.

That outreach work recently earned Maynard an Emmy® nomination from the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. As producer of “Out-Of-The-Box Science with Jeff” — a children’s science series created in collaboration with Generation Genius and the National Science Teachers Association — Maynard worked alongside fellow UW–Madison graduate and Generation Genius founder Jeff Vinokur to adapt classic chemistry demonstrations into safer versions suitable for at-home kits, including developing a Hemin-catalyzed alternative to a classic Luminol chemiluminescence experiment. The series was nominated in the Outstanding Interactive Media category at the 2nd Annual Children’s & Family Creative Arts Emmy® Awards. “It was a surprise to be included in the nomination,” Maynard says, “but if I had won a trophy, I would have walked around the building with it.”

Maynard’s contributions have also been recognized closer to home, with honors including the Chancellor’s Excellence Award for Service to the University, the Academic Staff Mid-Career Excellence Award, the J.W. Taylor Pharmacia Excellence in Teaching of Chemistry and Instructional Leadership Award, and the American Chemical Society’s Chemluminary Award. He also serves as advisor to UW–Madison’s chapter of Alpha Chi Sigma, the chemistry fraternity founded on campus in 1902, where he has led efforts to secure a new chapter house.

His advice for current chemistry students is rooted in the lessons of his own experience: get to know your classmates, professors, and instructors, and practice problem-solving at every opportunity. As he puts it, a degree in chemistry from UW–Madison can lead virtually anywhere — from consulting to legal services, education, synthesis, and, as his own story shows, even an Emmy nomination.