Ullyot Public Affairs Lecture
Paul Anastas (Photo credit: Eric Vance)
2012 Lecturer: Paul Anastas
On November 15, 2012, Paul Anastas, the Teresa and H. John Heinz III Professor in the Practice of Chemistry for the Environment at Yale University and former assistant administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), delivered the 2012 Ullyot Public Affairs Lecture at the Chemical Heritage Foundation in Philadelphia.
Anastas has appointments in the School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, the Department of Chemistry, and the Department of Chemical Engineering at Yale. In addition, he serves as the director of Yale’s Center for Green Chemistry and Green Engineering.
Anastas took public-service leave from Yale to serve as the assistant administrator for the EPA and the agency science advisor from 2009 to 2012. From 2004 to 2006 he served as director of the American Chemical Society’s Green Chemistry Institute in Washington, D.C. He was previously the assistant director for the environment in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy where he worked from 1999 to 2004.
Trained as a synthetic organic chemist, Anastas received his Ph.D. from Brandeis University and worked as an industrial consultant. He is credited with establishing the field of green chemistry during his time working for the EPA as the chief of the Industrial Chemistry Branch and as the director of the U.S. Green Chemistry Program. Anastas has published widely on topics of science through sustainability, including 11 books, such as Benign by Design, Designing Safer Polymers, Green Engineering, and his seminal work with coauthor John Warner, Green Chemistry: Theory and Practice.
About the Ullyot Public Affairs Lecture
The Ullyot Public Affairs Lecture was established in 1990 to emphasize to the general public the positive role that the chemical and molecular sciences play in our lives. Ullyot lectures are held annually and are open to the public. Ullyot lecturers are distinguished in their fields, nationally recognized, and able to communicate to a nonscientific audience.
The Ullyot Public Affairs Lecture is jointly sponsored by the Chemical Heritage Foundation, the Department of Chemistry at the University of Pennsylvania, the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of the Sciences, and the Philadelphia Section and Delaware Section of the American Chemical Society.
About Glenn Edgar Ullyot
Glenn Edgar Ullyot earned a B.S. in chemistry from the University of Minnesota and an M.S. and a Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of Illinois. During a successful 38-year career with SmithKline & French Laboratories (now GlaxoSmithKline), Ullyot progressed through several stages of responsibility, from bench chemist to director of scientific liaison.
Ullyot’s primary scientific interests were with medicinal chemistry, therapeutic agents, and their biological activity. He published many papers, received patents on numerous compounds, and played a significant role in the development of several products, including Benzidrex, a nonstimulating analog of the inhaler Benzidrine, and Diazide, a diuretic agent for the treatment of high blood pressure.
Ullyot was an active member of and leader in the American Chemical Society for more than 60 years and served on several important U.S. governmental committees. Owing to his deep commitment to education, he established the Ullyot Public Affairs Lecture, stating, “Chemistry, biology, and physics are the basic sciences that are keys to understanding the world around us. It is my hope that each Ullyot lecturer will increasingly stimulate more people to appreciate the positive impact these sciences and the people who pursue them have on our daily lives.”
Ullyot lecturers are distinguished in their fields, nationally recognized, and able to communicate to a wide audience.
Past Ullyot Lecturers:
To learn more about past lectures, click here.