Gibala completed a bachelor's degree in metallurgical engineering from the Carnegie Institute of Technology in 1960.
[1] He pursued further study in the subject at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign,[2] earning a master's degree in 1962,[1] followed by a doctorate in 1964.
[1][2] Gibala began teaching at Case Western Reserve University upon completing his Ph.D.[2] He remained on the faculty until 1984.
[2] He later moved to the University of Michigan and was subsequently appointed to the L. H. and F. E. Van Vlack Professorship.
[1][3] In 2004, Gibala was elected a fellow of The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society "[f]or seminal research on intermetallics; internal friction; interstitial solutes in metals, surface effects, on mechanical behavior; and excellence in service to the materials' community.