The Ralph Connor Memorial Lecture was created by the Chemical Heritage Foundation to showcase periodic addresses on the role of research in the development of technology and industry by eminent practitioners in the chemical and molecular sciences.

2008 Lecture
The 2008 Ralph Connor Memorial Lecture was delivered by James P. Landers, professor of chemistry, associate professor of pathology, and professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Virginia, at a meeting of the Joseph Priestley Society on 10 January 2008. Landers focused on microfluidic systems in a lecture entitled "Integrated Microfluidic Genetic Analysis for Forensic Analysis."

Landers received both a B.Sc. and a Ph.D. in biochemistry from the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada. He was a Canadian Medical Research Council Fellow under Thomas Spelsberg at the Mayo Clinic, studying cancer biology and diagnostics. His research efforts over the last decade have focused on microfluidic-based analytical systems with the goal of developing the next-generation genetic analysis platform for molecular diagnostics. In addition to editing all three editions of the Handbook of Capillary Electrophoresis, he has authored more than 175 peer-reviewed papers and 25 book chapters on topics that range from receptor biochemistry and capillary electrophoretic method development to microchip fabrication and integrated microfluidic systems for application in the clinical and forensic arenas.

About Ralph Connor (1907–1990)
Ralph Connor was a director of research and chairman of the board of directors at the Rohm and Haas Company. Before joining Rohm and Haas, he served on the faculty of the University of Pennsylvania and as a division chief on the National Defense Research Committee in World War II. He received many honors, including Great Britain's Medal for Service in the Cause of Freedom, the Gold Medal of the American Institute of Chemists, the Priestley Medal of the American Chemical Society, and the Chemical Industry Medal of the Society of Chemical Industry, American Section. Connor, who earned his Ph.D. in organic chemistry from the University of Wisconsin, is best known for his research in the fields of organic chemistry, catalysis, synthesis, explosives, and reaction mechanisms. He also coauthored an organic chemistry text with Reynold C. Fuson, Charles C. Price, and Harold R. Snyder.