Mark Nelson holds an MPhil in Nuclear Energy from Cambridge University, where he studied at Pembroke College as a W. W. Allen Scholar. Prior to Cambridge, he took degrees in mechanical and aerospace engineering, and Russian Language and Literature at Oklahoma State University. He has studied and lived in St. Petersburg, Russia; conducted mechanical engineering research at Los Alamos National Laboratory; and worked in a pants factory in Tajikstan, making pants. Mark's studies in nuclear engineering led him to the broader problems of electricity production and carbon emissions. His current research interests include tracking electricity system emissions, particularly for France and Germany, and speculating on the role of energy returns in society: how do changes in energetic limitations manifest themselves in political and social life? When not thinking about electricity data, Mark is a middle-distance runner, abuses his long-suffering camera, and thinks about electricity data.