About Us

Our Mission

We believe that students who will meaningfully impact society throughout their lives need personalized, guided educational experiences that inspire them to explore, to question, and to generate and test their own ideas. Pioneer Academics® offers these experiences.

Our mission is to transcend cultural, geographic and socioeconomic barriers to educational engagement. That’s why we select student cohorts that bring together ideas and perspectives from diverse cultures and geographies. Such peer interaction challenges stereotypes, augments creativity, and heightens students’ awareness of the global community in which we live. Pioneer also transcends socioeconomic barriers by offering verifiable-need-based scholarships to outstanding students. This initiative enables more students to engage in in-depth exploration of their academic interests under the mentorship of thought leaders than would otherwise be possible..

Our Vision

We will improve the current academic culture by creating educational experiences that are inspiring and life-changing, that unlock students’ curiosity and creativity, and that involve international peer engagement encouraging students to challenge preconceived notions and embedded stereotypes.

Our Social Mission

To transcend cultural, geographic and socioeconomic barriers to educational engagement.

A Public Benefit Corporation

Our social mission is to transcend cultural, geographic and socioeconomic barriers to educational engagement. As part of our social mission, Pioneer Academics dedicates funds every year to need-based scholarships for students to participate in the Pioneer Research Program.

Our Team

Matthew Jaskol

Founder and Program Director
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Amy Li

Founding Director, Outreach and Communications
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Lucia Murillo

Global Associate Director of Outreach
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Kathryn Lalime

Operations Director
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Joseph Gotto

Senior Academic Relations Manager
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Dan Yu

Regional Director, China Operations
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Alice Shen

Director of China Outreach & Reputation Management
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Kimberly Mathies

Director of HR and Administration
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Founding Advisors

Timothy Elgren

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Rit Fuller

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Quotes directly from Matthew Pohl

Pioneer’s Respected Selectivity

“There are very few selective summer programs out there that emphasize research. Pioneer is one
of very few selective summer undergraduate research opportunities, and that’s something that’s
known among college admissions officers at top universities.”

Pioneer’s Leadership mindset

“I believe Pioneer’s system really prepared students for the leadership mindset.”

Credibility through academic system

“Oberlin College is considered one of the top liberal arts colleges in the U.S. If they are
partnering with an organization that provides excellent programs to students, then there’s
credibility there. Automatically.”

Watch the video

Matthew Pohl - the former associate director of admissions at
University of Pennsylvania and Wharton

The Pioneer Research Program is the ONLY global
college-credit-bearing program in which students conduct
research one-on-one with a professor online in Pioneer’s rigorous
system.

  • Foundational Research Seminars

  • Pioneer Writing Center

  • Online Library

  • Academic Oversight

Foundational Research Seminars

Pioneer offers virtual seminars on research methodologies in addition to subject sessions.

Pioneer Writing Center

Pioneer’s writing center follows the highest ethical standards in providing academic writing support to Pioneer scholars.

Online Library

  • About 400 research databases and journals.
  • Over 100,000 e-books.

Academic Oversight

Pioneer and Oberlin College jointly administer academic oversight.

  • Accomplishment Endorsed by Pioneer

  • College Credit

  • Tuition

Accomplishment Endorsed by Pioneer

It is well known that Pioneer holds the highest academic standards. Research accomplishments
through Pioneer are trusted and respected.

College Credit

Pioneer scholars earn two college credits and the Pioneer Research Program is categorized as
a college course, instead of just an extracurricular activity, on college applications.

Tuition

  • Pioneer’s tuition is 6,450 US dollars.
  • As part of its social mission, Pioneer Academics dedicates funds every year to
    need-based scholarships for students to participate in the Pioneer Research Program.
    These funds are very limited and their use is restricted to cases in which the need
    of the students’ family can be reliably accredited. Students are eligible for these
    scholarships in countries where need can be assessed or if they are part of a
    non-profit organization or an educational institution that can assess need.
  • Considering students have significantly fewer options for their summer enrichment, Pioneer adjusted the cohort size from maximum 5 to maximum 6 so that we can offer the opportunity to more students. Please be aware that Pioneer will only expand cohorts which we feel sure will not be compromised in any way by a slight increase in participation. Some areas, therefore, may stay at a maximum of 5 because the nature of the course requires heavier coaching.

 

  • Pioneer admissions still requires the same application materials, but we may adjust the timing in response to current realities. If you can work with your counselor to collect your official transcript and counselor evaluation and submit them soon after you submit your application, it will speed up the process. Pioneer admissions requires an official transcript and counselor evaluation to process applications for the final round. If these items won't be available during the process due to COVID-19, applicants must submit evidence that the school's counseling office is closed. Pioneer admissions will then decide what adjustment shall be granted.

Dear educator friend,

In the critical process of preparing students to transition to college, you are key. The
ramifications of your guidance are far-reaching.

The Pioneer Research Program believes that it, too, has a role to play in preparing students of special potential and passion for learning. This is a role we trust you will appreciate knowing about. Our mission is to offer a deep and otherwise unavailable opportunity to exceptionally motivated young scholars who want to learn and research at the college level and to explore their potential for innovation.

What makes Pioneer a unique deep-dive learning experience is not just the mentorship of distinguished professors. It is the rigorous quality controls developed conjointly by Pioneer and Oberlin College. Professors (must) adhere to rubrics for

1) setting learning goals;

2) syllabus development;

3) oversight, feedback and evaluation, and

4) grading standardization.

This rigorous academic system is supported by thorough admission process and a high-minded ethics code. The combination gives students an exceptional learning experience that is brought to fruition in a college-level research paper documenting their findings.

You can follow this link Pioneer’s concrete academic system to learn more about the academic system. Academic quality control and academic oversight assure Pioneer’s focus is on learning and learners, and therefore all of our practices were built upon the following principles:

No conflict of interests Pioneer’s academic ethical standards
Because of its high academic and ethical standards, the Pioneer program has earned the trust of college admissions departments and formed the basis for the ground-breaking collaboration with Oberlin College. Pioneer scholars get two college credits upon completing their Pioneer research.

Click to learn about Pioneer and Oberlin College's groundbreaking academic collaboration.

Pioneer has a rigorous admission process. Students who have genuine academic interests and are highly motivated are a good fit with Pioneer’s values. Pioneer’s founding board insisted that Pioneer commit to a professor-blind policy during the application process, ensuring that applicants have authentic field interest and correct priorities. Consequently, no information about professors is released before admission to the program. This policy is much appreciated and respected by universities. Professor-blind admission policy
On this page is the critical information needed to meet your needs.

If you have additional questions, feel free to let us know how we can help you by emailing info@pioneeracademics.com or calling 855-572-8863.

Best,

Matthew Jaskol

Founder & Program Director