SARAH E. GIBSON
Dr. Sarah Gibson is a Senior Scientist of the High Altitude Observatory (HAO) at the National Center for Atmospheric Research. Dr. Gibson received her Bachelor’s Degree in Physics from Stanford University, and her Masters and Doctoral Degrees in Astrophysics from the University of Colorado. At HAO, she has served as Solar Section Head, Deputy Director, and Interim HAO Director.
Dr. Gibson’s research centers on solar drivers of the terrestrial environment, from short-term space weather drivers such as coronal mass ejections (CMEs), to long-term solar cycle variation.
Dr. Gibson uses theoretical models to understand the magnetic origins of CMEs and related space weather phenomena. Dr. Gibson has led International Space Science Institute (Switzerland) International Teams on the subjects of Prominence Cavities and Coronal Magnetism. She has authored a Living Review in Solar Physics on Coronal Prominence Theory. She is the primary author of the FORWARD suite of SolarSoft IDL codes for model-data comparison, and is Project Scientist on NASA's PUNCH mission.
Dr. Gibson also led the international Whole Sun Month/ Whole Heliosphere Interval/Whole Heliosphere and Planetary Interactions campaigns — coordinated observing and modeling efforts to characterize the three-dimensional, interconnected solar-heliospheric-planetary system at solar minimum, continues to be involved in the McIntosh Archive project to archive and analyze multi-decadal solar observational records.
Dr. Gibson is a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union and was the recipient of the American Astronomical Society – Solar Physics Division Karen Harvey Prize in 2005 and the American Geophysical Union Space Physics and Aeronomy Parker Lecture in 2024. She was a Scientific Editor for the Astrophysical Journal and has served on many national and international committees. She has been a member of the Executive Committee of the National Academies Space Studies Board, co-chair of its Committee on Solar and Space Physics, and has recently finished her terms as Vice President and then President of the IAU Division E (Sun and Heliosphere). She is currently co-chair of the National Academies Space Weather Roundtable.
Dr. Gibson loves sharing Heliophysics science with the public. She gave the first of NCAR’s 50th anniversary public lectures, participated in the NOVA episode "Secrets of the Sun" and NBC Learn's (Wx Geeks) "When Nature Strikes: Space Weather" (NSF/TWC), and has written a blog post for the Huffington Post entitled "Living with Space Weather (Baby, It's Charged Outside)". She also prepared and presented oral and written testimony before the Joint Subcommittees on Space and Environment Committee on Science, Space, and Technology (U. S. House of Representatives; 2018). She also co-wrote a solar eclipse musical parody ("My Corona") which won the AAS/SPD Popular Media Award in 2024.
