His thesis, awarded in 1954, was done under the direction of Verner F. Schomoker and James H. Sturdivant.
After graduation, Ibers accepted a staff scientist position at Shell Development Company and later Brookhaven National Laboratory.
Starting in 1965 until his retirement, Ibers was a professor of chemistry at Northwestern University.
His broad research interests included many aspects of organometallic,[2] bioinorganic,[3] and solid state chemistry,.
[4] Ibers was a noted pioneer in the applications of X-Ray Crystallography to chemical problems and issues associated with inorganic bonding.