Research Powerhouse Battelle Invests Heavily to Support Students in Columbus and Beyond

Think of Battelle, and for most Central Ohioans, one word comes to mind: science. So, perhaps it’s not surprising that the Columbus-based research giant would focus on fostering children’s interest in STEM with generous donations of money and human capital.

However, many might not realize how much the nonprofit charitable trust also is investing in literacy and why.

Battelle’s president and CEO, Lewis “Lou” Von Thaer, sums it up succinctly. “It’s hard to learn STEM if you don’t know how to read,” he says, referring to the institute’s push to improve student knowledge of science, technology, engineering and mathematics. “We’re trying to learn where the gaps are and where we can fill those gaps.”

In July, Battelle gave the Columbus Metropolitan Library Foundation $3.1 million, the foundation’s largest-ever onetime gift, to fund youth programming and initiatives, including the Summer Reading Challenge, Ready for Kindergarten programming and a new author series. The announcement was made during the library’s inaugural Columbus Book Festival, which Battelle sponsored.

The two-day festival created a buzz around reading, similar to how the annual Columbus Arts Festival energizes the arts, says Rachel Heine, CML’s director of development. The event featured numerous adult, young adult and children’s authors and drew more than 33,000 people. “We are reframing literacy for children, saying in essence, ‘Look at all the people here who are excited about books. See how exciting books can be?’ ” Heine says.

Programming such as the festival and those youth initiatives would be impossible without money from Battelle and other donors, Heine says. “Librarians and library staff are penny pinchers, but with this extra infusion of philanthropy, they can say, ‘Let’s try something different,’ ” she says. “It allows us to say, ‘What if?’ and to pilot things and think differently about the needs of the community.”

One such effort is the library’s YouMedia centers, now in eight branches and supported by Battelle. There, 12- to 17-year-olds can make videos and explore music production, graphic design and animation.

Meeting Students Where They Are

Wes Hall, Battelle’s vice president for education, STEM learning and philanthropy, says Battelle began funding the YouMedia centers a few years ago because of its commitment to meet the needs of students where they congregate.

“For us, it’s about how can we use the places where families are going [to expand literacy and STEM],” Hall says. “What fun engagement center would make them want to come to the library?”

In that same vein, Battelle has been a funding partner for multiple programs at COSI, including the annual four-day COSI Science Festival. For the first three days, science experiments and hands-on learning experiences are held at numerous locations around Central Ohio, followed by an all-day finale outside COSI.

“People come from all over, and the goal is to hook kids on science,” says Frederic Bertley, president and CEO of COSI. “Battelle is our lead funder, and they have about 20 of their scientists on-site. What I love about Battelle is they write us a check, but on top of that they give us access to their scientists.”

That access extends throughout the year, including in COSI’s Color of Science program—aimed at “showing kids that all scientists aren’t old white men with thick glasses,” Bertley says—and the Platform, which brings 15 Columbus City Schools students per grade to COSI one day a week plus six weeks in the summer.

“Battelle supports us with money and their team members,” Bertley says. “It’s hugely important for the motivation and modeling for students, extending our capacity to show students real science in action and scientists in action. It’s one thing to see a demonstration, but a whole other thing to talk to an engineer who’s at work on, say, something to do with COVID.”

Battelle’s Commitment to the Community

Hall says Battelle’s outreach to the library, COSI and multiple other organizations is baked into its history and culture. When Gordon Battelle left a large portion of his estate to create Battelle Memorial Institute in 1923, he envisioned an organization that would benefit society with its scientific discoveries and technology advances.

“It’s also about how our community engagement can lift up our future leaders, by focusing on critical thinking skills and innovation,” Hall says. “STEM is in the DNA of our company, and education is the great equalizer in our society. The role of our philanthropy is to encourage collaboration between schools, business and government partners and to create sparks of interest for students in STEM.” That, in turn, will help provide Ohio with the STEM workforce it needs, Hall says.

At a minimum, each year Battelle contributes 20 percent of its prior year’s consolidated net income to charity, with the majority of that going to STEM education. In fiscal year 2023, the organization doled out grants totaling nearly $16.5 million (see sidebar).

Hall says Battelle’s involvement with STEM education began when it partnered with Ohio State University to create Metro Early College High School in 2006. The STEM-focused school enrolls students from across Central Ohio; 50 percent of its seats are reserved for Columbus City Schools.

Since it was founded, a middle school has been added at the campus on Kenny Road, and plans are in the works to renovate the former Indianola Middle School to house the middle and high schools by 2024. Then, the Kenny Road facility will become a new STEM elementary school under the Metro Schools umbrella.

Metro Schools’ success has done what Battelle leaders hoped, spawning statewide and Midwest efforts to support STEM. One of these is the Ohio STEM Learning Network, to which Battelle contributed $17 million in 2008. The network, a partnership between the Ohio Department of Education and Battelle, now has more than 80 STEM-designated schools in Ohio. In mid-October, Battelle committed more than $1 million in grants to participating schools.

Battelle also has extended the effort across state lines by creating the Tennessee STEM Innovation Network, modeled after Ohio’s initiative, to create opportunities for students in the Volunteer State. It also manages STEMx, a national group where organizations share successful STEM education efforts and collaborate. STEMx hopes to extend its network, now in more than a dozen states and territories, to all 50 states within five years.

Engaging Girls Through Scouting

Battelle has become so well-known for its work in STEM education that when Girl Scouts of the USA asked its leaders to promote STEM opportunities for girls, the local council called Battelle.

“We wanted to create an immersive STEM center and campus to reach our girls in their formative years, and we shared this with Battelle,” says Tammy Wharton, president and CEO of Girl Scouts of Ohio’s Heartland, which serves troops in 30 Ohio counties. Battelle and local Girl Scouts leaders visited a camp in Texas that focuses on STEM and began working on plans for a new STEM Leadership Center and Maker Space at Camp Ken-Jockety in Galloway.

The $16 million, 25,000-square-foot center is due to open in fall 2024, supported by a $3 million contribution from Battelle and donations from multiple other companies and individuals.

The idea, Wharton says, is to have a place where girls can try out all manner of scientific experiences so they see that STEM fields are not just for boys. “By third grade, girls already are starting to think they can’t do STEM, so we want to get these girls engaged in these formative years,” Wharton says. The hope is that if girls have the chance to have hands-on experiences with rocketry, robotics and physics, they won’t be afraid to pursue careers as scientists, engineers and mathematicians, she says.

Wharton says women have long been grossly underrepresented in STEM careers, and this center is a chance to get girls interested in these in-demand jobs. The facility also will have spaces where girls can try out welding, carpentry and gardening, and it will be available for school and community use.

Wharton says she meets monthly with Von Thaer and his team at Battelle to hash out ideas. “I’m really grateful because they truly have helped us make this project better and better,” she says. “This is not a company that just throws money at you; we like the advice and counsel they give along the way.”

Battelle’s Other Initiatives

CML and COSI aren’t the only institutions to benefit from Battelle’s philanthropic largesse. Its outreach also includes grants to the Columbus Museum of Art for student experiences in its galleries and educator workshops for teachers and administrators. At the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium, Battelle provides money for paid zoo internships for young adults interested in animal-related careers, scholarships for summer conservation camps, and mentorships by zoo staff for students in grades 8-12 in underserved schools.

To expand its reach into more schools, Battelle is working with the PAST Foundation in Columbus to create Portable Innovation Labs STEM Exploration Kits that schools can borrow for their students. The kits contain equipment many schools can’t afford, such as robots, robotic hands or underwater vehicles, Von Thaer says.

About 20 kits have been created through a $1 million Battelle grant to the PAST Foundation, a nonprofit that connects real-world scientific research to classrooms. Schools can check out the kits from local libraries. “I think we’re onto something with this,” Von Thaer says. “One of our goals is for every kid in the country to have the opportunity to have STEM education if they want it.”

The kits are just one of multiple smaller projects that Battelle funds. Von Thaer has expanded the nonprofit’s student programs into topics such as agriculture, publishing, zoology, computer programing, medicine, the environment and virtual reality through grants it provides locally and across Ohio.

Fostering Critical Thinking

After he became Battelle’s president and CEO in 2017, Von Thaer challenged his philanthropy team to increase STEM outreach to 1 million students by 2025.

“I figured if we’re going to do it, we might as well be audacious in our goal,” he says. Revved up by the challenge, the team surpassed the goal in 2022 by impacting 1.4 million students, mostly in Ohio and Tennessee.

As a first-generation college graduate with working-class parents, Von Thaer understands that as more students are exposed to science, more will consider it as a career. “I ended up being an engineer because I was good in math and had a lot of luck; I’d never met an engineer growing up,” he says.

But he also knows that STEM education creates citizens who are better educated as a whole. “It’s not just about kids becoming scientists and engineers; it’s about how they can learn to intelligently question what they’re told and have the savvy to know what’s correct and what isn’t,” he says. “We need to teach them how to think about things logically and not just accept what they’re being spoon-fed. We need to teach them to filter through all the trash that’s floating around on social media.”

For Von Thaer, Battelle’s work on STEM education has been an especially satisfying part of his job. One of his favorite moments over the years was a conversation with a fifth grader at a STEM event.

“She said that people told her that STEM stuff is hard,” he says. “But she said, ‘It’s not that hard. And I’m going to be a scientist.’ ”

Snapshot of Battelle Grants in Fiscal Year 2023

• $3.1 million – Columbus Metropolitan Library Foundation for literacy programs
• $2.65 million – Columbus Zoo and Aquarium for STEM career pathways, conservation-focused educational programs and technology updates at the Battelle Ice Bear Outpost
• $2.5 million – Metro Early College High School
• $1.2 million – Columbus Museum of Art for STEM educator workshops, student visitor experiences and free museum entry days
• $1 million – COSI for STEM programs, including its science festival
• $1 million – A STEM high school in Knoxville, Tennessee, for new lab equipment
• $1 million – National Veterans Memorial and Museum for programs that connect students to veteran-centric books and efforts to connect veterans to meaningful employment
• $1 million – The PAST Foundation to create portable STEM teaching kits for classroom use
• $1.2 million – Regional Community STEM Grants to employees outside Central Ohio to expand STEM learning in their communities
• $1.03 million – Ohio STEM Learning Network for grants at public, charter and independent STEM schools
• $772,000 – Central Ohio STEM Grant Program for 14 out-of-classroom STEM education programs

Source: Battelle

This story is from the Columbus Parent section in the December 2023 issue of Columbus Monthly.