"I'm Sarah Bang, lightning scientist," this 33-year-old announces with a grin, clearly relishing the irony. She's a remote sensing scientist who specializes in detecting lightning and hail from the vantage point of Earth observation satellites.
It all started with a childhood terror of thunderstorms. "The sound of thunder would send me running for flashlights, which I distributed to my sister and my parents while giving them a safety briefing," she explains. Tired of the safety briefings, her father assured her that she didn't need to worry about every clap of thunder because "weather people" would provide plenty of warning time and tell the public when they need to take shelter. "After that, I used to call the local 'weather people' with questions, and with the advent of the internet I could follow storms on radar online. What I feared became more of a hobby. I would put off my studies to watch thunderstorms."
Sarah was born and raised in Buffalo, New York. When she attended the University of Chicago for her undergraduate studies, she was at first a chemistry major. That soon changed. One day her advisor asked her about her goals. "I heard myself say, 'I want to go into research in inorganic chemistry.' As I uttered that, I knew it was a lie. I had a lightbulb moment that instead of putting off homework to watch the weather, I could study meteorology, and then it would be my homework to watch the weather."
She switched majors to Geophysical Science, specializing in fluid dynamics. After earning her bachelor's degree, she earned master's in Atmospheric Science at the University of Utah. It was a road trip that cemented her decision to pursue a doctorate in weather research. "I was in the first year of my master’s program and had been dwelling on how difficult the program was and whether I could continue past the master’s degree. On a road trip from Oklahoma to Wisconsin with a friend, we travelled through Joplin, Missouri, a few days after the deadly May 22, 2011, tornado. I was heartbroken by the devastation I saw, and it hit me that this is my calling -- the kind of work I must do. If I can contribute in some way to the research on severe storms, I owe it to storm victims to devote my skills and energy to help."
Sarah completed a doctorate in Atmospheric Science from the University of Utah in 2018. She was a Fellow in the NASA Postdoctoral Program at Marshall Space Flight Center from 2018 to 2020, focusing on detection of severe hailstorms using spaceborne passive microwave instruments. Then she joined Marshall's Earth Science Branch in 2020, where she continues her research focusing on using spaceborne instruments to observe severe weather phenomena, in particular lightning but also severe hail.
Shortly after moving to Huntsville, her Buffalo accent got her into trouble when a native Alabamian co-worker asked her what she studied. "I work in hail," Sarah responded. "Is it that bad?" asked the co-worker, with great concern. Sarah had to clarify that she studied severe weather.
Asked for one word that she would use to describe herself, Sarah responds, "ebullient." "In the past I was chastised for being bubbly. Some people seemed think to that scientists are only reserved and terse, and that there wasn’t space for someone like me." How does she think others would describe her? "Well, I overheard a little boy at church say, 'Sarah Bang is loud.' "Bang!
It all adds up to an engaging young scientist whose enthusiasm is contagious. She's an excellent public speaker -- a scientist who's fun to listen to.
