Stiebeling was born in Haskins, Ohio in 1896, on a farm, where her interest in food and nutrition is thought to have developed.

After graduating from Skidmore, Stiebeling was employed for three years as a schoolteacher and then she entered the Columbia University Teachers' College where she was an assistant in Foods and Nutrition under Professor Mary Swartz Rose.

Stiebeling became a research fellow under Dr. Henry Sherman at the Graduate School of Columbia University after receiving her MA.

Her research was in the basal metabolism of women, the influence of vitamin D on calcium deposition in bone, the nutritional value of protein in human subjects, and others projects.

It was the first quantitative national dietary standard for the minerals calcium, phosphorus, iron, and vitamins A and C. The values were based on her research in the Sherman laboratory.