Thomas is a Research Associate at the Sanford School of Public Policy. Formerly, he studied Public Policy (BA) and Environmental Science (BS) at Duke University. He studies issues related to clean and improved cooking, writing his thesis on the impacts of traditional cooking practices in rural Madagascar and the potential of improved cookstoves to mitigate household air pollution and improve fuel efficiency. Currently, he is working on assessing the landscape of improved cookstove producers in rural and urban Senegal.

In addition to his research, Thomas serves as Coordinator of SETI, which is an international network of energy access researchers in collaboration with Environment for Development (EfD) and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida).