Gibbs is a physical scientist by training and focuses on interdisciplinary, applied questions around land-use change, globalization, environment, and policy. Gibbs examines the drivers, patterns and pathways of tropical deforestation and agricultural change and what it means for climate change. She uses spatially explicit and data-driven modeling approaches, geographic information systems and remote sensing imagery combined with ground-based data on social and biophysical conditions to document and understand the causes and consequences of land-use change. She is also very interested in the effectiveness of different policy approaches to improve land-use governance in the tropics and here at home.