Jan Morrison is the Founder and CEO of TIES – Teaching Institute for Excellence in STEM and has served as the Senior Consultant for College Ready STEM Education as well as Post-Secondary Success for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Battelle Memorial Institute, Carnegie Corporation of New York, Innovate to Educate, S.D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation, Senior STEM Education Consultant for the Ohio STEM Learning Network and many other statewide STEM networks, and served as an advisor with the White House and Department of Education for the past four administrations. Currently, Jan and TIES serve as the designer and lead for the National STEM Funders Network, a collaboration of more than twenty-eight STEM funders seeking to fund STEM for the USA with greater return on their investment and therefore for the nation’s students. Jan and TIES are co-designers of the STEM Learning Ecosystem Initiative of the STEM Funders Network and run its National Community of Practice, 54 STEM Learning Ecosystems current with 100 within three years..  Jan consults with MIT Center of Bits and Atoms, The Woodrow Wilson Foundation, Chevron, Siemens America, NASA,Virginia Tech, North Carolina New Schools Project, many state governments seeking to create statewide STEM networks, STEM platform schools, programs and many more STEM institutions.

With an international vision for STEM education, Jan was adviser to the National Academy of Engineering as it developed the Engineering for K-12 Education report and reviewed the Achieve-authored Next Generation Science Standards. Jan and TIES organized the Race to the Top STEM Conference, which served to educate thirty states on the vital importance of STEM education and public-school transformation and is now assisting numerous states as they seek to implement their STEM vision through STEM network design and implementation.

“STEM has been my life’s path and TIES the vehicle to dream, innovate, cultivate, execute and scale what is often challenging but needed for children to realize their STEM potential.

Jan’s work also focuses on the Learn and Earn space, which offers all STEM students the opportunity to work in STEM fields while earning credits that have real labor market value as they matriculate at community colleges or universities. TIES was the technical assistance provider for the Healthcare Core Curriculum Consortia of community colleges funded by the USA Department of Labor. Jan and TIES served as the designer and lead for the National STEM Funders Network, a collaboration of more than twenty-eight STEM funders seeking to fund STEM for the USA with greater return on their investment and, therefore, for the nation’s students. Currently TIES holds the Office of Naval Research Grant to design and implement a maritime Fab Lab for northeast Ohio’s new Davis High School for Aerospace and Maritime. TIES under Jan’s vision and guidance is the leading designer/installer/support for digital fabrication labs, Fab Labs, in schools throughout the world. Working with the Fab Foundation at MIT, TIES brings a level of skill to all students in schools with Fab Lab capability. With MIT and other partners, TIES and Jan designed Fab Labs for the military through a DARPA grant and agreement.

TIES works hardest and most with school districts and states throughout the country and internationally (Egypt, Bermuda, etc.)  to design new STEM schools as platforms for change. MC2 STEM High School’s nine years of great success was the result of the design work Jan did in partnership with the Cleveland Metro School District. Many more STEM schools thrive from the TIES STEM School design work including the newly created Egyptian STEM Model School, meant to lead Egypt into a strong and vibrant education reform, Decatur County School District, Oakland Unified School District, Baltimore City Public Schools, Tulsa Public Schools, Polk County Florida, etc. With Carnegie Corporation of New York as a funder and supporter, TIES codified design studio processes that are supporting schools and students throughout the world.

As a former science teacher for thirty-five years and middle and high school principal, Jan helps those she touches to understand the importance of a college/work ready education for all children. TIES’ incredible group of world-class STEM education, systems engineers and education visionaries with Jan’s leadership works to “Help all children make sense of the world and find themselves STEM literate, STEM capable and excited about make STEM their life’s work.”