Charm wheaton

policy research intern 

Charm holds a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and is currently completing her Master’s of Environmental Assessment at North Carolina State University. She is passionate about building resilient communities through science-based policy, data-informed decision making, and public engagement. Her work has focused on water quality, environmental justice, and climate adaptation, spanning projects in domestic and international settings 

Before joining the Smart Surfaces Coalition, Charm served as a Coastal Resiliency Assessment Coordinator with Conservation Corps North Carolina and North Carolina State University. In that role, she supported community-based climate adaptation efforts through spatial analysis, stakeholder engagement, and the development of resilience strategies for vulnerable coastal communities. 

Charm participated in the Water Quality, Sanitation, and Climate Change Research in Ghana NSF IRES program, where she contributed to research on drinking water quality, sanitation, and climate change in Cape Coast, Ghana. She also took part in the Resilience and Adaptation to Coastal Change Across Communities (C2C) REU in the Outer Banks of North Carolina, where she assessed flood hazards, and environmental risks in two North Carolina coastal communities. 

Now, as a policy research intern at the SSC, she currently supports the Cities for Smart Surfaces program. Her work involves exploring policies related to the implementation of cool roofs, pavements, and other Smart Surfaces