Management   Jan Wasowicz Founder, President & CEO Jan Wasowicz is a 25-year veteran of education and instructional technology. Dr. Wasowicz founded Learning by Design, Inc. in 2000 with a vision for the design and development of research-based K-12 educational products that make a difference in education by teaching strategies for learning - not just skills. Since founding the company, Dr. Wasowicz has played a critical role in identifying and developing the company's key strategic partnerships and alliances and leading the design and development of the company's educational software, print-based teaching materials, and professional development services. Prior to founding Learning by Design Inc. Dr. Wasowicz was founder, president and chief science officer of Cognitive Concepts Inc., a leader in the educational technology industry, specializing in pre-literacy and early reading software, print materials and professional development services. As founder and president of Cognitive Concepts, Dr. Wasowicz participated in all strategic planning and decision making across all areas of the company including sales, marketing, finance, legal, operations, human resources, product development and professional development and training. Dr. Wasowicz grew the company from an entrepreneurial venture with private start-up capital to a profitable, venture-backed corporation with 60+ employees in four years. As chief science officer, Dr. Wasowicz established the company's pedagogical foundations and direction and played a critical role in defining company strategy and in positioning of products. Dr. Wasowicz conceived, designed and developed the original, award-winning Earobics® software product line and was responsible for assuring a cohesive scientific and pedagogical basis within and across product lines. She managed the company's intellectual property portfolio and secured government funding for new product research and development. Dr. Wasowicz served as a member of the CCI Board of Directors and participated in the development and direction of corporate strategies. In 2003, Cognitive Concepts was acquired by Houghton-Mifflin Company, one of the leading educational publishers in the United States. Dr. Wasowicz has over 20 years of experience as a language, literacy and learning specialist serving in public schools, Head Start programs and various private clinics and hospitals. She has held faculty positions at Elmhurst College, Northwestern University, Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke's Medical Center, and Governors State University. Dr. Wasowicz has authored several publications appearing in scholarly journals, including The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, Perception and Psychophysics, Journal of Phonetics, and Journal of Speech and Hearing Research. Dr. Wasowicz is an internationally recognized expert in the field of language and literacy and is frequently invited to speak at professional conferences and workshops at school, state and national levels. Dr. Wasowicz is the inventor of six educational software programs with patents issued or pending, including various patents for the original Earobics® software products and U.S. Patent 06,299,452 "A Diagnostic System and Method for Phonological Awareness, Phonological Processing and Reading Skill Testing" - an invention developed through the award of a Small Business Innovative Research grant and funded by the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Wasowicz is a recognized expert in speech acoustics, speech perception, speech synthesis and acoustic modification techniques and has developed commercial speech technology applications for Motorola, Texas Instruments, Mattel Toys and Tiger Electronics. Dr. Wasowicz received her Ph.D. in Communication Sciences and Disorders from Northwestern University where she completed her dissertation research on the effects of gender and prior knowledge on word recognition and demonstrated support for an interactive sensory-cognitive model of lexical access. Dr. Wasowicz received an M.S. degree in Communication Sciences and Disorders from Northwestern University and a B.S. degree in Educational Speech-Language Pathology from Illinois State University. Dr. Wasowicz holds an elementary (grades K-9) classroom-teaching certificate and a secondary (grades 6-12) classroom-teaching certificate from the Illinois State Board of Education. She is certified by the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, is a member of the Language Learning & Education Special Interest Division of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association and is licensed to practice clinical and educational speech-language pathology in the states of Illinois and Florida. Our Company | Management | Contact Us Home