Dr. Paul Anastas '84 Receives Award

Dr. Paul T. Anastas (BS Chem '84), a pioneer in the design of environmentally friendly chemicals and Yale professor, received the 2012 Edward O. Wilson Biodiversity Technology Pioneer Award for “helping advance the biodiversity of life on planet Earth.” 

The award cites Anastas for “seminal contributions to the foundations of green chemistry.” Trained as a synthetic organic chemist, Anastas has focused his research on the design of safer chemicals, bio-based polymers and new methodologies of chemical synthesis that are more efficient and less hazardous to the environment.

A leading writer on the subjects of sustainability, green chemistry and green engineering, he has published 10 books, including Benign by Design; Designing Safer Polymers; Green Engineering; and his seminal work with co-author John Warner, Green Chemistry: Theory and Practice. 

Prior to joining the Yale faculty, he was the founding director of the Green Chemistry Institute, headquartered at the American Chemical Society in Washington, D.C. From 1999 to 2004, he worked at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, where he served as assistant director for the environment. He began his career as a staff chemist at the EPA, and went on to become chief of the Industrial Chemistry Branch and director of the U.S. Green Chemistry Program. It was during his work at the EPA that he coined the term green chemistry.