Dedication

Tribute video to John and Vicki put together by Isidro 'Sid' Bosch.John and Vicki in the intertidal in 1971.

We are extremely pleased to dedicate the 8th North American Echinoderm Conference to John and Vicki Pearse for their long-standing love of echinoderms, for nurturing the careers of numerous students and colleagues, and for serving as strong role models for biologists at all stages of their careers.

John S. Pearse is Professor Emeritus of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of California, Santa Cruz. He has also held academic appointments with the California Academy of Sciences, California Institute of Technology, and the American University of Cairo, Egypt. John earned his B.Sc. in Zoology from the University of Chicago and his doctorate in Biology from Stanford University under the advisement of Arthur Giese and Donald Abbott. He is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the California Academy of Sciences, and has served as President of the Western Society of Naturalists, the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology, and the International Society of Invertebrate Reproduction, as well as of several local and regional environmental groups in Santa Cruz and California. In 2008 he was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award of the Western Society of Naturalists (jointly with Vicki Pearse). He has published over 140 research articles and research presentations, was Co-Editor of 7 volumes of Reproduction of Marine Invertebrates, and has served on the Editorial Board, Board of Reviewers, as an Editorial Advisor, or as an Editor of Marine Biology, Invertebrate Reproduction and Development, Marine Ecology Progress Series, and Science. John advised 17 Ph.D. students, 25 M.S. students, and numerous undergraduate students, two of whom (McClintock and Miner) are plenary speakers at this conference. He has traveled the world to conduct research and has both a sea star (Odontaster pearsei) and an urchin-inhabiting barnacle (Rugilepus pearsei) named after him.

John and Vicki in 2010.Vicki Buchsbaum Pearse is currently a Research Associate at the University of California, Santa Cruz’ Institute of Marine Science. She earned her A.B. degree from Stanford University after spending her first few years at the University of Pittsburgh. Her doctorate was awarded from Stanford University in Biological Sciences for work conducted on the behavioral and physiological responses to light by the sea anemone Anthopleura elegantissima at Hopkins Marine Station under the advisement of J.H. Phillips, D.P. Abbott, and W.L. Lee. Subsequently, as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of California, Los Angeles and the California Institute of Technology, she conducted research on calcification and growth in reef corals and in both tropical and temperate coralline algae. This interest led naturally into experiments with calcification and growth in sea urchins (in partnership with John). Further studies on echinoderms included the comparative biology of feeding in larval echinoderms in Monterey Bay and Antarctica (in collaboration with Sid Bosch and John Pearse) as well as the phylogeny of ophiuroids and concentricycloids. From 1993-2003 she was the Editor of Invertebrate Biology, a quarterly journal of the American Microscopical Society, later the society’s President, and now serves on its Editorial Board. She has taught field courses at Hopkins Marine Station, Shoals Marine Laboratory, and with Semester At Sea, and has worked at marine field stations across the globe, including in Guam, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Australia, Moorea, Okinawa, Honduras, Panama, and Bermuda. She lists ~80 research papers or research presentations at scientific meetings, was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award of the Western Society of Naturalists (in 2008), and is a Fellow of the California Academy of Sciences. She enjoys bird watching, cooking (“no echinoderms are harmed in exercise of this hobby”), and spending quality time with her son, daughter-in-law, and 10-yr-old granddaughter.