"As early as I can remember,” he tells me, “all I’ve ever wanted to do is research meteorology.”
Gibson Storm Chasing in Nebraska in 2025
Gage Gibson’s enthusiasm for weather is undeniable. He is nearing the completion of his meteorology degree at Metropolitain State University, Denver, has his sights set on a career in research—ideally focusing on numerical weather models, remote sensing, or convective weather— and his hobbies include things like storm chasing. "As early as I can remember,” he tells me, “all I’ve ever wanted to do is research meteorology.”
Needless to say, his internship at NOAA’s Global Systems Laboratory (GSL) seems like a perfect fit. “I’ve had a great experience,” Gibson says, grinning. “It’s kind of just been a dream come true to even be a fly on the wall, let alone actively contributing to the GSL’s vision.” That vision being, to develop systems that deliver solutions to save lives, protect property and promote a thriving economy.
The internship, funded by the NSF ASCEND Engine in Colorado and Wyoming through its NSF Regional Innovation Engine grant and supported by GSL, has given Gibson the opportunity to apply his expertise to cutting-edge weather simulations. At GSL, he has worked on evaluating an experimental high-resolution, short-range weather model called the Rapid Refresh Forecast System (RRFS), affectionately referred to as "Rufus." As part of a multidisciplinary team of developers, modelers, engineers, and meteorologists, he helped test the model’s accuracy and identify ways to improve its performance.
Beyond his work with the RRFS, Gage also supported Dr. Steven Naegele, Postdoctoral Scholar with GSL and CU Boulder's Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, by manually classifying storm types in extreme precipitation events. This helped Naegele by establishing a baseline from which to train his machine learning storm classification algorithm. Presently, Gage is developing an expert user guide to GSL’s Model Analysis Tool Suite (MATS). “Everything I have worked on so far has been fun— it hasn’t felt like work.” He credits the success of his internship thus far to his mentor, Dr. Amanda Back, and the other researchers at NOAA. “I would absolutely recommend this internship to others,” Gibson advised, “The mentors have been incredible at supporting us and helping us learn. It has been especially valuable to me, since I am really interested in research and numerical weather models.”
If anything, Gibson’s internship at NOAA has reinforced his career goals, offering hands-on exposure to the real-world applications of meteorology. Now in his senior year, Gage is eager to continue his studies or secure a research position focusing on convective weather or weather simulations. “My number one goal would be a job similar to this internship,” he says. “One that focused on numerical weather models, remote sensing, or on convective weather.”
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