Dr. Sarah Gibson is a Senior Scientist in the High Altitude Observatory and was previously Interim Director at HAO (2019-2020). Her 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. A particular focus is observations and models of coronal prominence cavities, which are long-lived structures in the Sun’s atmosphere that store the magnetic energy liberated in CMEs. Dr. Gibson has led International Space Science Institute (Switzerland) International Teams on the subjects of Prominence Cavities and Coronal Magnetism, and has led multiple coordinated observing and modeling efforts to characterize the three-dimensional, interconnected solar-heliospheric-planetary system at solar minimum. She is currently Project Scientist on NASA's Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere (PUNCH) mission.

Dr. Gibson is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union (AGU) and the recipient of the 2005 American Astronomical Society/Solar Physics Division (AAS/SPD) Karen Harvey Prize and the 2024 AGU/Space Physics and Aeronomy Eugene Parker Lecture. She was a Scientific Editor for the Astrophysical Journal and has served on many national and international committees including the Annual Reviews of Astronomy and Astrophysics Editorial Committee and the National Academies Space Studies Board. She was  President of IAU Division E (Sun and Heliosphere) from 2018-2021.

Dr. Gibson loves sharing her work with the public. She has appeared on NOVA, Weather Geeks, written a blog post for the Huffington Post (2015), and prepared and presented oral and written testimony on the significance of space weather for 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.

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.