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.

Pioneer In The News Image

Pioneer In The News

Having broken new ground in education since 2012, Pioneer Academics has been featured by media outlets like

  • The Hill
  • Scientific American
  • Inside Higher Ed
  • Chronicle of Higher Ed
  • ProPublica

 

  • Our Vision

    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

    Our Social Mission

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

Pioneer History

Pioneer Academics, a public benefit corporation, created a structured research mentorship model for high school students in 2012. The model provides undergraduate-level research opportunities to intellectually motivated high school students from around the world.

It has become the only fully-accredited online research program for high school students, highly respected by the higher education community.

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  • 2014 Pioneer's History Background Image
  • Pioneer's History Background Image for 2015
  • 2016 Pioneer's History Academics Background Image
  • 2018 Pioneer's Hisory Background Image
  • Pioneer's History Background Image for 2020
  • Pioneer's History Background Image for 2021
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  • 2023
  • 2024
  • 2011

    Development milestones

    Conceptualization of high school students virtually conducting undergraduate-level research

  • 2012

    Development milestones

    Creation of the 1:1 research model for high school students

    Academic advancement

    First pilot group of student from the US and China begins

  • 2013

    Development milestones

    Pioneer officially launches with 18 scholars from the US, China, and Africa

    Academic advancement

    Academic Ethics: Concentration-blind admissions policy made permanent ensuring scholar engagement with authentic research interests

  • 2014

    Development milestones

    Pioneer’s 1st year offering two terms with 92 scholars from the US, Asia, Europe, and Africa

    Academic advancement

    Academic Innovation: Pioneer Research System begins to take shape

  • 2015

    Development milestones

    Pioneer’s 2nd year offering two terms with 149 scholars from the US, Asia, Africa, and Europe

    Academic advancement

    Academic Innovation: Pioneer Research System is built

  • 2016

    Development milestones

    Pioneer is fully-accredited and starts granting college credit through the groundbreaking academic system;

    Pioneer scholars are granted access to full digital undergraduate library

    Academic advancement

    Academic Innovation: Collaboration between Pioneer Academics and Oberlin College is formed and featured on the front page of Inside Higher Ed

    The Pioneer Research System aligns with Higher Learning Commission standards, setting a new benchmark through this collaboration.

  • 2018

    Development milestones

    2000 applications received from US, Asia, Africa, and Europe without any marketing efforts

    Academic advancement

    Academic Innovation: Tenure between Pioneer and Oberlin made by vote

    Pioneer and Oberlin’s academic committee establishes highest standards for high school student research

  • 2020

    Development milestones

    3500 applications received from North America, Asia, Africa, South America, and Europe without any advertising

    Pioneer offers free research program led by professors from Stanford, Notre Dame, Hamilton, and Columbia to help students cope with the pandemic

    Academic advancement

    Pioneer Open Summer Study POSS: The completely free & exciting online research alternative Celebrating 171 teams’ discoveries and successes

    Academic Innovation: IRB requirement added to Pioneer Academic System pushing academic standards even higher

  • 2021

    Development milestones

    4300+ applications received from the US, Asia, Africa, and S. America, and Europe without any advertising

    Academic advancement

    Academic Innovation: Pioneer’s Academic R&D grew out of its Academic Department forming an independent function dedicated to strengthening the established research system and furthering pedagogical innovation

  • 2022

    Development milestones

    We celebrated Pioneer Academics’ 10th anniversary by launching a new social mission initiative—the 1st Annual Pioneer Co-Curricular Summit.

    Recognizing there was no single forum for students and parents to access expert insights, distinguished academic programs, or colleges, Pioneer leverages its reputation to invite leading experts, respected programs, and college admission representatives to the Annual Pioneer Academics Co-Curricular Summit, allowing educators, parents, and students to engage and access valuable information at no cost.

  • 2023

    Development milestones

    Pioneer Academics was featured as the ONLY legitimate and respected online research program for high school students in an investigative report published as the front-page headline story by the Chronicle of Higher Education and ProPublica.

  • 2024

    Academic advancement

    For three consecutive years, Oberlin’s Educational Plans and Policies Committee has reviewed the research of Pioneer scholars and consistently found it to be of exceptional quality. As a result, the committee decided to double the college credits for the program from two to four — the maximum awarded for an undergraduate research course.

    Pioneer Academics launched the new academic initiative — Pioneer Global Problem Solving Institute (GPSI). It offers high school students a virtual lab where they work with peers and university professors to tackle real-world challenges using systems-thinking and design-thinking methods. GPSI collaborates with University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill on accreditation and oversight.

Our Team

  • Matthew Jaskol Photo
    Matthew Jaskol
    Founder and Program Director
  • Amy Li Photo
    Amy Li
    Founding Director, Outreach and Communications.
  • Kathryn Lalime's photo
    Kathryn Lalime
    Operations Director
  • Joseph Gotto's photo
    Joseph Gotto
    Senior Academic Relations Manager
  • Dan Yu's Photo
    Dan Yu
    Regional Director, China Operations
  • Alice Shen's Photo
    Alice Shen
    Director of China Outreach & Reputation Management
  • Kimberly Mathies's Photo
    Kimberly Mathies
    Director of HR and Administration
  • Brian Cooper's Photo
    Brian Cooper
    Director of Academic R&D
  • Dana Silk's Photo
    Dana Silk
    Director of Admissions

Founding Advisor

  • Timothy Elgren's Photo
    Timothy Elgren
    Founding Advisor
  • Rit Fuller's Photo
    Rit Fuller
    Founding Advisor