Battelle Education Wins Gold: A Stevie® Award for Transforming STEM Learning at Scale

We have some news we’re proud to share: Battelle Education has been named a Gold Stevie® Award winner — *Educational or Research Institution of the Year* — in the 2026 Stevie Awards for Technology Excellence.

The Stevie Awards for Technology Excellence recognize organizations shaping the future of technology across every industry. This year drew more than 700 nominations from 37 nations, judged by a panel of over 180 professionals worldwide. Our nomination, *How Battelle Education is Transforming STEM Learning at Scale*, earned the category’s top honor.

What the award really recognizes

An award is nice. But what it points to matters more.

For us, this recognition is about the work — preparing students and educators for a rapidly changing world, backed by Battelle’s 90+ years of scientific innovation. It’s about a simple idea we keep returning to: build what works, then make it reach the students who need it. In 2025 alone, our programs reached 2.3 million+ students, 5,000+ educators, and 3,000+ schools and organizations.

The judges saw that scale. But scale only means something if the work behind it is good. So here’s what’s behind the number.

The work behind the win

Three programs anchored the nomination — each one built to change how students experience STEM, and each one showing measurable results.

K–2 Nuclear STEM Education. Most people don’t picture five- and six-year-olds as scientists. This program does — equipping teachers to introduce foundational energy concepts through hands-on, literacy-based learning. In post-training surveys, 83% of teachers reported the highest level of confidence teaching nuclear energy concepts, and nearly 92% planned to bring the curriculum into their classrooms the following year.

Battelle Teacher Academy. We send teachers into real manufacturing environments — externships, coaching, and industry connections that bring the working world back into the classroom. The shift in confidence is striking. An independent evaluator tracked it across the academy’s second year:

That’s not a small nudge — it’s the difference between a teacher who avoids a topic and one who can open a door to it. In 2025, 45 teachers took part, on track to reach more than 7,600 students across Ohio and Michigan. In 2026, the academy expands to California and South Carolina.

Manufacturing Pathways Pilot. Ohio’s manufacturers are growing fast, and the demand for skilled technicians outpaces the supply. Working in partnership with the state, we launched a pilot to build real pathways into that work. In its first year, 1,030 students enrolled in advanced manufacturing pathways across 10 districts and 21 schools — proof that career-connected learning can scale across very different communities.

Why it matters

When classroom learning connects to the opportunities of tomorrow, students see where the work leads — and they show up for it.

That’s the thread running through all three programs, and it’s the standard we hold ourselves to: rigorous content, real industry partnership, and a model designed from the start to reach more than one classroom. Connecting education, industry, and technology this way is how we help prepare the next generation of innovators — and how we build something other communities can adopt.

What’s next

We’re honored by the recognition — but the real work continues where it always has: in classrooms, with teachers, alongside the students we’re all rooting for.

Want to bring programs like these to your schools? Reach out — we’d love to talk.