She is a Senior Scientist and past Interim Director of the High Altitude Observatory in Boulder, Colorado.

As of 2019, Dr. Gibson is the Project Scientist for the PUNCH Small Explorer mission being built for NASA.

[2] Gibson's research interests include solar physics and space weather phenomena.

She is noted for extensive work developing the theory of coronal mass ejections (CMEs) and their precursors,[3][4] and for organizing scientific collaborations that advance global understanding of the Sun and heliosphere.

She is a Fellow of the American Geophysics Union and the recipient of the 2005 American Astronomical Society Solar Physics Division's Karen Harvey Prize for early achievement in solar physics and the 2024 American Geophysical Union Space Physics and Aeronomy Eugene Parker Lecture.