Meet our team! Contact us by email individually by clicking the images below.
Susan Cohen is the Associate Director at the Institute for the Environment. Prior to coming to IE, she served as the coordinator for the Defense Coastal/Estuarine Research Program (DCERP) conducted at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune in eastern North Carolina. DCERP focused on the function and sustainability of coastal estuarine systems in the context of climate change. Susan has also worked and studied ecosystem resilience and fire-based land management solutions and heads up the Carolina Drone Lab (CARDNL).
Tom Bythell has been the University Arborist and Forester for 24 years and oversees Grounds recycling. He cares for Carolina’s trees as if they were his own children. For his passion and commitment to the UNC-Chapel Hill campus, Bythell is one of six Carolina employees to win the 2020 C. Knox Massey Distinguished Service Awards.
Michael Everhart earned a degree in Environmental Science from UNC in 2013 and then spent several years honing his woodworking passion as he founded a small company with a friend and built custom furniture. Mike then returned to UNC for grad school and in 2019, he got his Masters in City and Regional Planning. Carolina Tree Heritage grew from work that Mike did for his master’s project, helping to hatch the idea and put the program together. Mike now splits his time between working for a local planning firm and spending time in the shop, where he builds items for CTH and serves as an advisor to the program. Michael lives in Orange County with an amazing 4-year-old daughter and a wonderful wife of many years. They keep chickens, bees, and a large vegetable garden and have dreams of starting a farm.
Ella Thomas is the first-ever intern for Carolina Tree Heritage. She is a junior at UNC studying environmental science with a focus on sustainable agriculture and a minor in environmental justice. She is interested in the mutualistic relationship between humans and nature and how we can support each other and care for each other. Outside of school, Ella enjoys baking, spending time with her young niece and nephews, and spending time at the Eno River in Durham, where she grew up. Her plans after graduation are to travel and then get her certification to teach elementary schoolers.
