The founder of “green chemistry” is heading back to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, where he established the new field of study more than a decade ago.

Last Thursday, President Barack Obama nominated Yale faculty member Paul Anastas, co-author of “Green Chemistry: Theory and Practice,” to be the Assistant Administrator for the EPA’s Office of Research and Development.

If confirmed, Anastas will head research at the ORD, which is the EPA’s scientific research branch.

Anastas is no stranger to Washington or the EPA. He began working for the EPA in 1989 as the chief of the industrial chemistry branch of the Office of Prevention, Pesticides and Toxic Substances. From 1999-2004, he served as the assistant director for the environment in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, and from 2004-2006 he was the director of the Green Chemistry Institute.

In addition to his appointments in the School of Forestry & Environmental Studies, the Department of Chemistry and the Department of Chemical Engineering, Anastas is also the director of the Yale Center for Green Chemistry and Green Engineering.