History of Speakers
The Student Activism Speaker Series (SASS) got it's present name in 1998. For many decades before that the Caltech Y has been bringing speakers to campus under many different series.
SASS follow follows in the footsteps of past student-run lecture series through the Caltech Y, including the Leaders of America Series (55-79) and the Distinguished Speaker Series (90-93). Like its predecessors, SASS originated from students desire to provide the challenging and thought provoking, finding a home under the Y's umbrella of promoting engaged responsible citizenship.
Student Activism Speaker Series
2020 Matt Barreto (UCLA) – Racial Gerrymandering & Racially Polarized Voting Webinar
2020 Dorine van der Wall and Oliver Rosenbauer (World Health Organization) – WHO and Global Policy Webinar
2020 Jonathan Katz (Caltech Professor) – Partisan Gerrymandering Science Policy Webinar
2020 Bill Colglazier (former Advisor to Secretary of State & NAS Executive Officer) – Science Policy and Diplomacy
2019 Sean McKenna – Housing Crisis in LA
2019 Reina Buenconsejo and Sarah Cohen (students) – Science Policy Opportunities for Students in DC
2019 Socialists of Caltech (club) – Rent Control
2019 Liam Dillon (LA Times Journalist) – Housing and Homelessness Crisis
2019 Scott Pace (Executive Secretary, national Space Council) – From Apollo to Artemis: Lunar Policy
2019 Francisco Donez (EPA) – Reducing Air Pollution from Heavy-Duty Diesel
2019 Emily Lakdawalla (Planetary Society) – Speaking Your Science
2019 Brigitte Roth Tran ( – Extreme Weather and Firm Return Dynamics
2019 Kate Chandler – Crash History of Drones
2019 Extinction Short Film w/ Iram Parveen Bilal (Director)
2019 Casey Dreier (Planetary Society Policy Director) – How to be a Space Advocate
2019 Brian Toon – Dinosaurs and Nuclear Wars
2019 No Mas Bebes Documentary w/ Renee Tajima-Pena - Director
2019 Asa Hopkins – A Pathway to Policy
2018 Christina Bellantoni
2018 President Tom Rosenbaum – Academics and the National Debate
2018 CA Propositions Overview – League of Women Voters
2018 Jamie Tijerina -
2018 Merchants of Doubt Documentary w/ Eric Conway (JPL Historian)
2018 Adam Winkler – We the Corporations – UCLA Law Prof
2018 Carl McPherson – College and Inequality
2018 Regina Dugan – Tech Policy Discussion – Former VP Facebook and Google; Former Director of DARPA
2018 Company Town Documentary with Producers
2018 Sam Wang – Fixing Democracy with Statistics, Science and Law – Princeton Prof
2018 Simon Wong & Boeing Shih – FBI Cyber Security
2018 Tracey Van Houten – JPL Scientist and former Political Candidate
2018 Gary Tyler – Exonerated from Death Row – with CCD
2018 Amber Cantorna – Coming Out from a "Focus on the Family" Family – with CCD
2018 Melina Abdullah – Black Lives Matter – with CCD
2017 Citizen's Climate Lobby: Dan Brotman, Glendale CC Econ Prof; Peter Kamus, JPL Climate Scientist; Carol Kravetz, Prod. Coord; Austin Minnich, CIT ME Prof
2017 Erin Hartman – Understanding Uncertainty in Polling – UCLA Prof, formerly ran polling and analytics - Obama for America
2017 Michael Dello-Iacovo – Effective Altruism – former CEO of EA Australia
2017 Hamed Qawasmeh – Feasibility of the Two State Solution
2017 Victor Reis – Nuclear Policy – former Sr. Adv, DOE; former Dir, DARPA; former Ass. Dir, National Security and Space - OSTP
2017 Citizens Climate Lobby Panel
2017 Carl Pabo – Helping Democracy Think – Visiting Professor The World in 2050
2017 Robb Willer –Political Communication in a Polarized World – Stanford University
2017 Ron Lin – Scientists Talking with the Media - LA Times
2017 Robert Hanrahan – Nuclear Stockpile Stewardship
2017 David Wright – Domestic Nuclear Weapons Policy - Union of Concerned Scientists
2017 Michael Nacht – Nuclear Weapons Policy on a Global Stage - Berkeley
2017 Jennifer Mustos: Trafficking and Technology – with Feminist Club
2016 Minimum Wage Panel: Larry Wilson, Daniel Flaming, Abel Ramirez, and Pablo Alvarado
16-17 Science Policy Lunch Series [Jonathan Katz, France Cordova, Rush Holt]
2016 Miles Corwin – (Author: And Still We Rise) - on Educational Access
2016 Morgan Kousser – Supreme Court and the 2016 Election
2016 David Baltimore – Ethics of Genetic Engineering – with SEPAC
2016 Mike Nelson & Kathleen Doherty – (Science Advisor; US Ambassador to Cyprus) National & International Politics and Power
2015 David Cruz (USC Law Prof) – Civic Rights, Civic Equality, and Religious Liberty
2015 Space Entrepreneurship Panel (Rob Hoyt, Michael Rubel, Chris Vorhees; Sergio Pellegrino Moderator) w/KISS
2015 Scott Pace (GW Space Policy Institute) Lecture and Lunch w/ KISS
2015 Hank Jones (former Black Panther) – Lunch
2015 Alex Joel (US Civil Liberties Protection Officer) - Lunch
2015 Betty Medsger (Journalist), John and Bonnie Raines (burglars)
2015 Wendy Kohlhase (bio medical ethicist – Ebola Ethics) - Lunch
2014 Alex Joel (US Civil Liberties Protection Officer) - Lunch
2014 Kim Shriner (Tanzania Project – Huntington Hospital) – Lunch w/ CMA
2014 Wendy Kolhase (bio medical ethicist – Huntington Hospital) – Lunch w/PMA
2014 Susan Herman (ACLU President)
2013 Boots Riley (musician and activist)
2013 Jaimala and Hitesh Gupta (Indian NGO's) – w/OASIS
2013 Gerald Kominski (UCLA Health Policy Research)
2013 Elizabeth Calvin (Human Rights Watch – juvenile justice and foster care systems)
2012 Rich O'Toole (JPL Legislative Affairs)
2012 Jared Rivera (Latino Labor and Voting Activist) w/ CCD
2012 Suzie Baldwin (MD, Human Trafficking)
2012 Tavis Smiley (Broadcaster, Author)
2011 Jeremy Scahill (Journalist – Afghanistan)
2011 Shukry Cattan (International Rescue Committee - Refugees)
2011 The Yes Men (Impersonators, Activists)
2011 Jim Fruchterman (Benetech) w/ Caltech Entrepreneur Club
2011 Steve Koonin (Under Secretary for Science) w/ CMA
2011 Hidden Documentary - Liberty in North Korea (LiNK) w/Amnesty
2010 Ira Leifer (NASA Gulf Oil Spill Response) w/ CMA
2010 Alexis Madrigal (Journalist – Clean Tech History) w/ESW
2011 Science Policy Lunch Series [Nate Lewis, Hall Daily]
2010 Matt Gonzalez (Civil Rights Attorney, Green Poltician)
2010 Jeremy Scahil (Journalist - Blackwater)
2010 Kalaya'an Mendoza (Amnesty International)
2010 C.I.C.L.E (Cyclists Inciting Change thru Live Exchange)
2010 Karim Sadjadpour (Carnegie Endowment - Series on Iran)
2010 Abbas Millani (Stamford Professor – Series on Iran)
2009 Gary Blasi (UCLA Professor – Homelessness)
2009 Roger Cohen (NY Times Foreign Editor – Series on Iran)
2009 Sakura Kone (Common Ground – New Orleans)
2009 Jackson Katz (Violence Against Women Prevention)
2009 Friends of the LA River (Hike)
2009 Emily Pilloton (Project H Design )
2009 Jim Fruchterman (Benetech)
2008 Sam Childers (Angels of East Africa)
2008 Andy Bales (LA Rescue Mission)
2008 Morgan Simon (Responsible Endowments Coalition)
2008 Chris Mooney & Matthew Nesbit (Framing Science)
2008 Paul Polak (Out of Poverty – When Traditional Ways Fail)
2008 Sufyan Omeish & Abdallah Omeish (Occupation 101)
2008 Nelson, Foster, Paradise and Kennedy(JPL vs. HSPD12 )
2008 Almudena Carracedo & Robert Bahar (Made In LA)
2007 Kevin Sites (War Journalist – Author)
2007 Chris Mooney (Science Journalist - Author)
2007 Reagan Demas (International Justice Mission)
2007 China Blue Documentary (Fair Trade)
2007 Kevin Sites (War Journalist – Author)
2006 Rev. George Regas (All Saints Church vs. IRS)
2006 Invisible Children Documentary (Sudan)
2006 Enrique Devalos & Rogelio Vencia
2006 Black Gold Documentary (Fair Trade)
2006 Jack Duvall (International Center on Non Violent Conflict)
2006 Nikki Giovanni (Author - Racism)
2005 Steve Barr (Green Dot Schools)
2005 Chris Mooney (Science Journalist - Author)
2005 Ralph Nader (Green Presidential Candidate)
2005 Peter Dreier (Fair Trade)
2005 Kurt Gottfried (Union of Concerned Scientists)
2005 Ka Hsaw Wa (Burmese Activist)
2004 Science Policy Forum [David Baltimore , Janet Hering, Vasavada, and David Goodstein
2004 Chuck Collins (United for a Fair Economy)
2004 Mike Farrell (Death Penalty Focus)
2004 Bernie Sanders (Independent US Congressman)
2003 Gerard Ungerman (Plan Columbia)
2003 Rahul Mahajan (Author)
2003 Peter Camejo (Green / Latino Candidate for Govenor)
2003 Tahmeena Faryl (RAWA)
2003 Theodore Postol (Missile Defense – MIT)
2003 Huwaida Arraf & Adam Shapiro (Int. Solidarity Movement)
2002 Scott Ritter (former UN Weapons Inspector – Iraq)
2002 Hunter Lovins (Rocky Mountain Institute)
2002 Tim Wise (Anti Racism Activist)
2001 Jose Ramos-Horta (Nobel Peace Prize – E. Timor)
2001 Michelle Mascarenhas
2001 Mike Dolan
2000 Amy Goodman (Radio Host - Democracy Now)
2000 Jody Williams
2000 Adam Werbach (Sierra Club)
1999 Dolores Huerta (United Farm Workers)
Distinguished Speaker Series (DSS)
Judy Gorman DSS 92-93
Igor Nlimov DSS 92-93
Paul Orfalea DSS 92-93
Vladamir Kovalenko DSS 92-93
Nikki Giovanni DSS 92-93
Arch Bishop Desmond Tutu DSS 1990
Leaders Of America Series (LOA)
Paul McCready LOA 78-79
Harlan Ellison LOA 78-79
James Whittaker & Diane Roberts LOA 78-79
Stansfield Turner LOA 78-79
William F. Buckley, Jr. LOA 78-79
John Andelin LOA 77-78
Richard Wilcox LOA 77-78
Ivor Richard LOA 77-78
Edmund "Pat" Brown, Jr. LOA 77-78
Morris Udall LOA 76-77
Edward Teller LOA 76-77
Jess Marlow LOA 76-77
Joseph Rhodes, Jr. LIA 75-76
Jeremy Stone LIA 75-76
H. Guyford Stever LIA 75-76
James D. Watson LIA 75-76
Harrison Jack Schmitt LOA 73-74
Linus Pauling LOA 73-74
Shirley M. Hufstedler LOA 72-73
Julian Bond LOA 72-73
Arthur W. Golstan LOA 72-73
D.C. James LOA 70-71
Paul Goodman LOA 66-67
Rosemary Park LOA 66-67
Abraham Kaplan LOA 66-67
Saul Alinsky LOA 65-66
Ted Sorensen LOA 65-66
John Ciardi LOA 64-65
Simon Ramo LOA 64-65
Ralph Helstein LOA 63-64
Lukas Foss LOA 63-64
Roy Wilkins LOA 63-64
David Reisman LOA 62-63
Barry Goldwater LOA 62-63
Sidney Hook LOA 61-62
James A. Pike LOA 61-62
Margaret Mead LOA 60-61
Archibald Macleish LOA 60-61
Carl Rogers LOA 59-60
Norman Cousins LOA 59-60
James B. Conant LOA 58-59
Abraham Maslow LOA 58-59
Martin Luther King, Jr. LOA 1958
Ralph Bunch LOA 55-56
William O. Douglas LOA 55-56
Paul G. Hoffman LOA 55-56