Tom Cinq-Mars

Dr. Tom J. Cinq-Mars is a historian of science and technology at Duke University's Nicholas Institute for Energy, Environment & Sustainability, where he is a lecturing fellow and associate director of education & experiential learning. His research spans petroleum exploration from the late Russian Empire through the Soviet Bloc and nuclear power plant licensing in the American South. In both settings, he asks how states, firms, and the experts who served them (geologists, engineers, and regulators) have made and unmade energy abundance and scarcity.

At Duke, Cinq-Mars co-directs the Energy & the Environment Certificate and teaches history courses that draw students from engineering, the natural sciences, and public policy. These include "History of Energy Use and Power Generation," which he has taught every fall since 2020. He co-leads the Bass Connections team "Reexamining Nuclear Power in the Carolinas and Beyond." In summer 2026 he mentored "Impounded Water, Impounded Lives," a History+ project with Historic Yates Mill County Park on slavery and water-powered milling.

A two-time Fulbright scholar to Russia, he reads, writes, and speaks Russian at a full professional level. He holds a Ph.D. in History from Duke and a B.A. in History and Spanish, summa cum laude, from Northeastern University.