Tibbits, a native of Centerville, Iowa, has firsthand experience as an undergraduate researcher at the University of Iowa. While pursuing bachelor’s degrees in anthropology and geoscience, Tibbits worked with Tiffany Adrain, collections manager of the UI Paleontology Repository; participated in anthropology professor Thomas Charlton’s excavations at Plum Grove Historic Site; and measured degassing of volcanoes with Mark Reagan, now an earth and environmental science professor emeritus.

After pursuing her master’s in anthropology at the University of Texas at San Antonio, Tibbits returned to Iowa City to earn her PhD in geoscience. Last May, she joined the OUR from Chadron State College in Nebraska, where she was an associate professor and director of the Veath Planetarium. There, she developed a research lab of her own, serving as faculty mentor to eight undergraduates exploring interdisciplinary questions relating to geochemistry of hard rocks and water quality in the High Plains Aquifer. 

While OUR associate director, Tibbits helped develop a network of campus partners to co-fund and increase the impact of undergraduate research fellowships. At the 2024 Spring Undergraduate Research Festival, Tibbits implemented a new exhibit hall to showcase undergraduates whose research and scholarship resulted in physical objects. During the 2023-24 academic year, OUR saw record numbers of students applying for research fellowships, travel awards, and supply grants.

Tibbits was named Director of the Office of Undergraduate Research in July 2024.