About twice a week a guest makes a presentation not directly related to the curriculum, followed by a reception, giving the students additional time for informal questions and open-ended discussions. Most guest speakers are prominent professors, researchers, or business leaders; some are also SSP alumni.

SSP's Guest Lecture series is underwritten by a grant from Lockheed Martin / Sandia National Laboratory.

Guest speakers at SSP / 2010 include:

California Campus Dr. Paul Pottinger Asst. Prof. of Medicine and Infectious Diseases, Univ. of Washington Medical Center "Parasitic Infections: Impact, Neglect, and Opportunities" Dr. Sigrid Close Prof. of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Stanford "Asteroids and Space Situational Awareness" Dr. Larry Sverdrup Senior Scientist, Trex Enterprises Corporation "Mad? Science!" Dr. Jean Chiar Principal Investigator, SETI Institute "Spectroscopy and Space Dust" Dr. Omer Blaes Prof. of Physics, UC Santa Barbara "Astrophysics of Black Holes" Dr. Gal Bitan Asst. Prof. of Neurology, Geffen School of Medicine, UCLA "Neurodegenerative Diseases" Dr. Michelle Khine Prof. of Biomedical / Chemical Engr. and Materials Sci., UC Irvine "Think Big…Then Shrink" Dr. Warren Rogers '76 Prof. of Physics, Westmont College "Nuclear Astrophysics and the Origin of the Elements"		Dr. 'Mad Scientist' Sverdrup hammers with a banana, frozen using liquid nitrogen.   Dr. Paul Butler SSP '77 describes planets outside of our solar system.
New Mexico Campus
Dr. Eileen V. Ryan Prof. of Physics, New Mexico Tech "Follow up and Characterization of Potentially Hazardous Asteroids using the MRO 2.4m Telescope" Dr. Larry Sverdrup Senior Scientist, Trex Enterprises Corporation "Mad? Science!" Dr. Henry Roe '91 Asst. Astronomer, Lowell Observatory "Titan's Methane Monsoon" Mika McKinnon '00 Astrophysics Consultant, "Stargate" on the SyFy Network "Disaster Science Fiction"		Dr. Michael Dubson '73 Sr. Instructor, Associate Chair, Univ. of Colorado at Boulder "Optics, Meteorololgy, and an Airline Crash" Dr. Tyrone Hayes Prof. of Biology, UC Berkeley "From Silent Spring to Silent Night" Dr. Penelope Boston Director, Cave and Karst Studies, New Mexico Tech "Caves: Exploring Life Underground from Earth to Mars and Beyond" Dr. Michael A. Weiss '74 Prof. of Bichemistry, Case Western Reserve Univ. "Molecular Biophysics of Sex Determination"