Deborah Koolbeck
Vice President
Deborah Koolbeck is a Vice President at the Council on Competitiveness where her primary focus is on outreach to and communications with the White House, federal agencies, Capitol Hill, and state & local governments. She conveys Council issues to stakeholders and helps to develop Council initiatives and programs.
Koolbeck joins the Council with a rich mix of experience in science, education, and policy. Initially serving in Congress as an Albert Einstein Distinguished Educator Fellow working as a Legislative Assistant, her career spanned six-plus years in the U.S. House of Representatives and included serving as committee staff and as Legislative Director for two Members of Congress. She managed staff and committee work, advised the Member of Congress on an array of issues, and advanced her or his agenda, and moved bills through the legislative process. In addition, she drafted commentary, speeches, book chapters, Floor statements, and legislation. She is credited with two reauthorizations signed into law during the 110th Congress.
Prior to her work on the Hill, Koolbeck was an educator at Chicago’s Museum of Science and Industry, where she helped to redesign a large section of the Museum as a member of its 21st Century Task Force on Essential Science. In addition, she joined the Science Faculty at the Chicago Academy for the Arts, a college preparatory high school for the arts colloquially referred to as the “Fame” high school of Chicago. She was half the Science Department and taught Physics I, Physics II, Astronomy, Basic Chemistry and Modern Chemistry. Koolbeck also served as National Honor Society advisor and served on several Academy committees. Her strength was connecting with students and cultivating their interest in science.
As a Guest Scientist at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, Koolbeck worked on the NOvA Neutrino Experiment to deepen the understanding of neutrino oscillations. As a research technician on the ATLAS project, she spent three months at CERN, in Geneva, Switzerland. Koolbeck spent part of her undergraduate years conducting astronomy research, and eventually expanded her work to focus on detector technology at both the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory and Los Alamos National Laboratory.
In the Department of Physics at the University of Arizona, she was an instructor, course manager, Curriculum Committee member, and mentor for the NSF Research Experience for Undergraduates program. Her many departmental activities included initiating the Department of Physics' award winning "Daughters on Campus Day" presentations. She was the physics instructor in Program ACCESS, which sought to encourage students with disabilities to pursue careers in science, mathematics, and engineering.
An Ohio native, Koolbeck earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Physics and Astronomy at the University of Arizona in Tucson and her Master of Arts degree with Honors in Education at DePaul University in Chicago, Illinois.
Koolbeck joins the Council with a rich mix of experience in science, education, and policy. Initially serving in Congress as an Albert Einstein Distinguished Educator Fellow working as a Legislative Assistant, her career spanned six-plus years in the U.S. House of Representatives and included serving as committee staff and as Legislative Director for two Members of Congress. She managed staff and committee work, advised the Member of Congress on an array of issues, and advanced her or his agenda, and moved bills through the legislative process. In addition, she drafted commentary, speeches, book chapters, Floor statements, and legislation. She is credited with two reauthorizations signed into law during the 110th Congress.
Prior to her work on the Hill, Koolbeck was an educator at Chicago’s Museum of Science and Industry, where she helped to redesign a large section of the Museum as a member of its 21st Century Task Force on Essential Science. In addition, she joined the Science Faculty at the Chicago Academy for the Arts, a college preparatory high school for the arts colloquially referred to as the “Fame” high school of Chicago. She was half the Science Department and taught Physics I, Physics II, Astronomy, Basic Chemistry and Modern Chemistry. Koolbeck also served as National Honor Society advisor and served on several Academy committees. Her strength was connecting with students and cultivating their interest in science.
As a Guest Scientist at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, Koolbeck worked on the NOvA Neutrino Experiment to deepen the understanding of neutrino oscillations. As a research technician on the ATLAS project, she spent three months at CERN, in Geneva, Switzerland. Koolbeck spent part of her undergraduate years conducting astronomy research, and eventually expanded her work to focus on detector technology at both the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory and Los Alamos National Laboratory.
In the Department of Physics at the University of Arizona, she was an instructor, course manager, Curriculum Committee member, and mentor for the NSF Research Experience for Undergraduates program. Her many departmental activities included initiating the Department of Physics' award winning "Daughters on Campus Day" presentations. She was the physics instructor in Program ACCESS, which sought to encourage students with disabilities to pursue careers in science, mathematics, and engineering.
An Ohio native, Koolbeck earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Physics and Astronomy at the University of Arizona in Tucson and her Master of Arts degree with Honors in Education at DePaul University in Chicago, Illinois.
T 202 969 3401
F 202 682 5150
dkoolbeck@compete.org
F 202 682 5150
dkoolbeck@compete.org