The Vital and Alice Pellissier Family Distinguished Speaker Series

The Vital and Alice Pellissier Family Distinguished Speaker Series will bring its second guest to campus – immunologist and geneticist Leonard A. Herzenberg, who invented the fluorescence-activated cell sorter (FACS) which revolutionized the study of cancer cells and is the basis for purification of adult stem cells. His talk begins at 7 p.m., after a reception at 6 p.m., and will be free and open to the public.

The distinguished speaker series is another important tradition associated with Research Week. The Pellissier family, longtime residents of Merced County, have funded the series with a generous endowment donation to the university. The family recently sold the ranch on the west side of Merced where their grandparents Vital and Alice established themselves and decided to use part of the proceeds to establish a legacy at UC Merced.

“Because we are losing the physical location and buildings that my grandparents left, we especially wanted to do something to remember them by,” said Dennis Pellissier. “UC Merced presented the idea of a distinguished speaker series, and we could see that it was an immediate need and also an opportunity for the community, including our family, to visit the campus.”

UC Merced plans for the speaker series to continue annually in association with Research Week.