The newest edition of the Pioneer Magazine is online. Check out the news of the research community and the story of the featured Pioneer Scholar.
We are excited to announce a new function — Academic Research and Development. Brian Cooper will lead this department to further drive Pioneer’s academic innovation.
23 Pioneer alumni, from 14 countries across six continents, came together on their own to create a film that shares the Pioneer spirit with the incoming 2021 Pioneer scholars.
2020 Pioneer alumni Catherine Kwon, from the US, and Reymajan Jumaniyazova, from Turkmenistan, initiated the project. They wanted to capture the vibrant, global, passionate atmosphere of the Pioneer community and welcome the next year of scholars to the program. Watch the video to see their creation.
Pioneer Academics is committed to the highest standards in academic advancement. It earned institutional backing for its academic system and standards which led to its collaboration with Oberlin College & Conservatory. This groundbreaking collaboration created an unprecedented online education model which has enabled outstanding high school students to conduct accredited research following concrete, holistic standards.
Apply to join the Pioneer community of 4,192 alumni from 71 countries. We invite you to learn more about the program.
The Pioneer Scholars college and university admissions statistics are updated. We are so proud of all our scholars and are looking forward to supporting them as alumni wherever they go!
About the Scholar: Nabo Yu attended The Webb Schools in Claremont, California, in the United States.
The Research:
Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, the accuracy of tests was so variable that some countries chose not to use tests at all, but instead isolate symptomatic individuals. Pioneer scholar Nabo thought computer simulations could shed light on the effects of testing accuracy on the spread of the disease. His SIR model computational calculations confirm that higher testing accuracy can result in reduced disease spread, and show that even lower accuracy testing is useful in slowing the transmission rate. According to Nabo, the model “has possibly offered a basic method of determining acceptable levels of testing accuracy based on the level of social isolation.”
About the Scholar: Ruochen Jin grew up in Canada and attended The Woodlands High School in The Woodlands, Texas, USA.
The Research:
Most Native American communities value passing on their traditions to their children, who are mostly immersed in today’s technological American culture. Contest powwows are one way to do this. To examine how these events balance the two cultural influences, Pioneer scholar Ruochen not only consulted previous research on the topic, but also attended a Children’s Powwow in the Greater Houston area and later interviewed a representative sample of the participants. Her observations were that at least at this powwow, the balance is maintained by preserving the sacred aspects of the event, while permitting cultural fusion of other aspects.
About the Scholar: Elis Sõõrd grew up in Estonia and attended Pearson College UWC in Victoria, Canada
The widespread use of antibiotics in farming and food animal production has led to a significant increase in antimicrobial-resistant bacteria (ARB), accompanied by an increase in life-threatening diseases that can no longer be treated with the antibiotics now available. Pioneer scholar Elis realized that this general observation lacks precise details, and set out to determine how frequent such illnesses were, the most likely behavioral causes, and the most cost-efficient ways governments could address the issues. One small-sample study suggested that people who consume a vegan diet are much less likely to contract a food-borne zoonotic disease than omnivores or vegetarians.
About the Scholar: Aditya Waddodagi grew up in the United States and India and attended Greenwood High International School in Bangalore, India
The Research:
Pioneer scholar Aditya prepared this risk assessment for a tour company contemplating expansion into Sri Lanka in mid-2019 by analyzing open source information to evaluate the risks in the area, concluding that this is not a good time.
Politics are chronically unstable, with elections scheduled for the end of 2019. 2019’s Easter Sunday attacks worsened tensions between majority Buddhist extremist groups and Muslim and Tamil minorities. Slow economic growth, high income inequality, and weak government standards discourage foreign investment.
Since these factors would be particularly troubling to foreign tourists, Aditya recommends the company postpone its decision until late 2020.
Oberlin College introduces the collaboration philosophy and scope on its website.
