Mission and History
Our Mission
At Battelle Education, we build a better tomorrow for students across the U.S. by enabling education systems to advance and connect learning with future careers.
The Problem We’re Solving
Students are missing out on meaningful learning and career-shaping opportunities because schools and systems lack the coherent supports, partnerships, and models needed to connect classroom learning with the world ahead—limiting our collective ability to innovate, compete, and solve pressing societal challenges.
Our Approach
We work at three levels to close this gap:
Educators
We build STEM instructional leadership and educator capacity so teachers have high-quality tools and supports to deliver rigorous, inquiry-driven, real-world STEM learning.
Schools
We help schools develop coherent models that integrate emerging career fields and connect learning to real-world relevance—ensuring all students experience relevant, hands-on, future-oriented learning from early grades through graduation.
Systems
We strengthen district and regional capacity, convene multi-stakeholder ecosystems, and lead research and innovation so that state, regional, and district systems sustain aligned policies, partnerships, and capacity to scale high-quality STEM and workforce pathways—ensuring equitable access regardless of geography or background.
Our History
Battelle Education is a mission-driven nonprofit launched by Battelle Memorial Institute—the world’s largest independent nonprofit research and development organization.
Our roots trace back to Gordon Battelle, a Columbus steel industrialist who saw science as a bridge to progress. After funding a lab that turned mining waste into valuable chemicals, he spent a year visiting laboratories across the United States, developing a vision for making research more accessible to industry. In 1923, he died unexpectedly at age 40, leaving nearly his entire estate to create an institute dedicated to “the greatest good for humanity.”
Battelle Memorial Institute opened in 1929. Over the following decades, its scientists contributed to breakthroughs from xerography to the UPC barcode to nuclear fuel rods for the USS Nautilus. Today, Battelle manages seven U.S. Department of Energy national laboratories and employs over 30,000 people worldwide.
As a nonprofit charitable trust, Battelle reinvests its profits for greater purpose—and STEM education has become central to that mission. Battelle Education carries forward Gordon Battelle’s founding vision by ensuring the next generation has access to the learning experiences that prepare them to solve tomorrow’s challenges.
2006
Battelle Memorial Institute opened in 1929. Over the following decades, its scientists contributed to breakthroughs from xerography to the UPC barcode to nuclear fuel rods for the USS Nautilus. Today, Battelle manages seven U.S. Department of Energy national laboratories and employs over 30,000 people worldwide.
Ohio STEM Learning Network established as a public-private partnership with the Ohio Department of Education
2008
2010
Tennessee STEM Innovation Network launched in partnership with the Tennessee Department of Education
STEMx Network founded, connecting state STEM organizations to share practices and scale innovation nationally
2012
2022
Battelle surpasses its goal to reach 1 million students annually—three years ahead of schedule
Stay in the Game! Network joins Battelle Education as backbone organization for Ohio’s statewide attendance initiative
2024
2025
Battelle Education reaches 2.3 million students across the U.S.
Three Pathways to Impact
Advance STEM Teaching
Scale professional-learning models that help educators deliver hands-on, inquiry-driven STEM every day.
Expand Workforce Readiness
Create pathways—from middle school to apprenticeships—that fill critical talent gaps in manufacturing, biotech and cyber.
Connect Systems
Link state agencies, districts and community groups so that successful pilots become statewide policy and practice.
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