Pioneer Academics is proud to announce that 128 papers authored by scholars from the 2022 academic year have been nominated for publication in The Pioneer Research Journal, an annual publication showcasing the most outstanding undergraduate-level research and writing generated by the high school students from around the world who participated in this year’s program.
These scholars come from five continents, 21 countries and regions, and 103 high schools. The nominated research papers present innovative analysis and new knowledge in a wide range of academic fields spanning STEM, Social Sciences, Humanities, and Pre-professional disciplines.
Pioneer Academics’ research program is the world’s only fully-accredited online research program for high school students. These nominated research papers form the capstone of the Pioneer Research Program in which motivated and exceptional high school students from around the world pursue original research under the mentorship of world class professors in Pioneer’s academic system. The scholars enrolled in the program meet online with small international cohorts in seminar-style sessions in their research concentration before moving on to work individually with the professor to generate an undergraduate-level research paper on a topic of their choice.
All of the research papers completed by Pioneer Scholars undergo rigorous academic oversight, each one representing a significant achievement in original exploration and discovery and held to the highest academic standards. The 128 papers nominated for the 2022 edition of The Pioneer Journal, which marks the 9th volume, comprise the top 9% of the papers produced during Pioneer’s 2022 Spring and Summer terms. The nominated papers will now be evaluated in a comprehensive review process which includes a double-blind review conducted by a panel of more than 40 university faculty from leading institutions in the United States.
We look forward to announcing the papers selected for publication shortly after the start of the new year. In the meantime, we congratulate the authors of all the nominated papers, each of whom exemplifies the academic rigor embodied by the Pioneer system. For a complete list of nominated papers and authors, please see the chart below.
Scholar name Scholar school Scholar countries and regions (by school) Pioneer research area Pioneer research topic Adora Limani NOVA International Schools Macedonia Political Science The Case of Javna Soba (Public Room) in North Macedonia: How Media Framing of Technology-Facilitated Sexual Violence Influences Impunity Alexander Hahn Harvard-Westlake School United States Literature/Culture Studies/History Lockean Theories, Tragic Irony, and Total Indoctrination in Kazuo Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go Alexis Lindenfelser St. Margaret`s Episcopal School United States Chemistry Nature Protecting Nature: The Use of Plant-derived Organic Compounds to Produce Sunscreens Non-toxic to Coral Alia Kafil Casablanca American School Morocco International Relations/Political Science Entering a Post-Pandemic World: The Top Three Global Risks in 2022-2023 and Strategies on How to Tackle Them Alp Namalan Galatasaray High School Turkey Biology A Proposal to Implement Cas-CLOVER Technology in the Treatment of Patients with Spinal Muscular Atrophy Anna Wang Cranbrook Schools United States Biology/Environmental Studies How Do Different Fishing Practices Impact Coral Reef Ecosystems, and How Could the Impacts be Managed? Aradhya Gupta The Doon School India Economics/Environmental Studies Characteristics and Productivity of Wine Grape Farmers in Nashik: Evidence from a New Survey Ary Cheng BASIS Independent Silicon Valley United States Physics/Mathematics Theoretical Limitations of FTIR Spectroscopy Audrey Chang Mountain Vista High School United States Gender Studies/ STS Modern Technology’s Effect on Society: How Search Algorithms Intensify Sexist and Racist Biases in the 21st Century Austin Wu Santa Clara High School United States Engineering/Computer Science Hardware Acceleration of Sequential Logic Functions in Vector Processors through the Use of a Modified FPGA Architecture Aziza Isbekova Nazarbayev Intellectual School Physics and Mathematics Kazakhstan Biology The Use of Trichostatin A and Wortmannin as a Solution to Cisplatin Resistance and Novel Treatment for Triple-Negative Breast Cancer Balazs Kondor Cate School United States Economics Electric Vehicles: Will Electric Cars Lead to a Creative Destruction of the US Car Industry in the Next 10 Years? Bowei (Alvin) Zhang Beijing No.4 High School China Mathematics Combinatorial Game Theory of Chess Endgames Brennan Lee Plano West High School United States Business The Revolution of Investing: The Growth of Impact Investing in Venture Capital and Institutional Investment Carl Sabbagh Lycée Libanais Francophone Privée United Arab Emirates Engineering Methods of DNA Nanotechnology: Past, Present, and Future Changkun (Charles) Shen Shenzhen College of International Education China Chemistry A Proposed Mechanism Relating Olive Oil Consumption and Reduction of Cardiovascular Disease Chujun Liu Grier School United States History/Sociology Patient Centered Medicine: Evolution of the FDA’s Drug Approval Regulations; The Thalidomide Tragedy in 1961 and the AIDS Crisis in the 1980s Dan Le Thuc American International School Vietnam Vietnam Sociology/Political Science/History Militancy, Suffragettes, and the Pankhurst: An Examination of the Emmeline Pankhurst's "Freedom or Death" Dawson Aidan Lin Phillips Academy Andover United States Philosophy The Giftedness of Life, Right to an Open Future and Procreative Beneficence Explored Defne Demiral The Koc School Turkey Psychology To What Extent Do Attachment Styles to a Primary Caregiver Affect Depression in Adolescents? Derek Harrison Loyola High School United States Music Debussy the Nationalist: Images of the Composer in French National Consciousness During the World Wars Eliana Svilik Grover Cleveland Humanities Magnet Charter High School United States History/Literature/Culture Studies/Sociology/Art History/Political Science Against the Grain: Sowing Democracy from the Seeds of Corruption Ella Beschta Westfall American International School of Budapest Hungary Psychology Erasing Fear: An Investigation into Pharmacologically-Disrupted Fear Memory Reconsolidation Treatment on Spider Phobia Emily Mansfield Poly Prep Country Day School United States History/Culture Studies/Political Science/Sociology Riots, Rebellion, and Revolutions: The 1960s News Media and the Civil Rights Movement Fengyi Han Blair Academy United States Art History/Architecture Animal Images in Christian Art of the Medieval Mediterranean: Perceptions of the Cultural “Other” Frances Alexandra Wasito Mountainview Christian School Indonesia Political Science The Election of Women to Indonesia's Provincial Legislatures: Finding the Factors Behind the Numbers Guohao (Mark) Lv BASIS International School Park Lane Harbour China Education/STS The Relationship betwen Learning Time on Online Learning Platforms and Students' Self-efficacy of Mathematics Learning Han (Mia) Nguyen Saigon South International School Vietnam Psychology/Gender Studies/Sociology Homemade Heuristics: Youths’ Perceptions of Gender-Typed Household Tasks Hannah Pate The American International School of Guangzhou China Sociology/Criminology Moral Ambiguity in Fictional Characters: The Role of Fandom Haozhe (Martin) Liu The Experimental High School Attached to Beijing Normal University China Astronomy Determining the Form of Dark Matter through Analysis of Variability of Quasars' Magnitude Heran (Marie) Wang Concord College United Kingdom (UK) Literature/Philosophy Consciousness as the Absolute Other: Hamlet and Prufrock Hiba Altaf Brooklyn Technical High School United States Computer Science/Education Lack of Secure Coding Practices in the Undergraduate Computer Science Curriculum Contributes to Vulnerabilities in Real-World Applications: A Quantitative Study of Security Vulnerabilities in the Java Curriculum, Student Code, and Oracle JRE Apps. Huaze (Eric) Xu Beijing National Day School China Biology A Computational Comparison of SARS-CoV-2 Omicron BA.2 and BA.5 Spike Protein with a Specific Focus on Amino Acid Mutations in the Coding S1 Domain Isabella Davidman Columbia Grammar and Preparatory School United States Gender Studies זכור (Remember): An Analysis of Art as a Reflection of Sexual and Gendered Violence Against Jewish Women During the Progroms (1919-1920s) and Nazi Era (1933-1943) Ivy Qin RC Palmer Secondary School Canada Physics/Mathematics The Effect of Violin Bow Placement on Harmonic Content of a Note Jason Cheng Saratoga High School United States Mathematics/Computer Science Ranking English Premier League Football Clubs by Math-based Goal-scoring Ability Relative to the Expected Goals Model Jeannette Yang Greenhill School United States International Relations/Political Science A Singapore and Qatar Comparative Case Study: Rise to Riches and Its Ramifications Jeongho Ha Korea International School South Korea Environmental Studies/Economics/Ecology Supply-Sided and Demand-Sided Solutions to Fast Fashion's Social Impacts Jiafu Li Xi`an Hanova International School China Architecture/Art History From Decoration to Structure, to Functionality: Organic Architecture Philosophy Transformed into Sustainability Jiahua (Jason) Zhuang Shenzhen College of International Education China International Relations/Political Science/STS Using Sentiment Analysis, Statistical Analysis, and Neural Network Simulations to Analyze and Simulate the Correlation Between Cyberspace Freedom and Development Jiansheng Zhang United World College of South East Asia Singapore History False Friends: The Pereiaslav Agreement of 1654 and the Divisions between Ukraine and Russia Jiarong (Luna) Guo Olive Tree International Academy, BFSU China Sociology/Media Studies Exploring Commercial Content Moderation: The Double-Edged Effects Autonomy Has on Emotional Labor Jiatong (Missy) Liu Keystone Academy China Philosophy An Examination of Descartes' View on Free Will in the Meditations Jiayuan Li Shanghai Pinghe School China Neuroscience/Biology/Psychology/Chemistry Surprising Gender Difference: An investigation of 2022 Shanghai Pandemic-Related food Cravings Jihane Khemlichi African Leadership Academy South Africa Architecture/Art History Mudejar Architecture in Medieval Spain: The Journey of the Alcazar of Seville Reinterpreted Jinghao (Jason) Zhang Qingdao No.1 International School of Shandong Province Chinese Psychology Examining the Effect of Sexual Orientation in Sexual-Orientation-Related Capitalization Jinghao (Richard) Min Burnaby North Secondary School Canada Business Nikola Corporation: A SPAC-tacular Lie Jingyue Yang Shenzhen College of International Education China Engineering/Mathematics Using Computational Fluid Dynamics to Analyze the Impact of Opening Doors in an Air-conditioned Room Julius Dorsey Regis High School United States Sociology/Political Science/Economics A Qualitative Analysis of Social Mobility, Financial Inheritance, and Wealth Accumulation within Black Households Kate Y. Kim The Peddie School United States Architecture Adaptive Reuse of Temporary Structures for a Humanitarian Purpose: A Case Study of the Jarahieh School Katherine Ye University of Toronto Schools Canada STS/History Advancing Artificial Intelligence: An Examination of the Works and Mind of Leibniz to Further Understand Man and Machine Khanh Nguyen Deerfield Academy/Saigon South International School United States Art History/Architecture Michelangelo’s Aesthetic Philosophy: Discovering Divine Beauty Lawrence Wu Upper Canada College Canada Political Science Coup D'etat Trends in the Post-World War II Era Leyi (Adele) Shen Wellington College International Shanghai China Music Effects of Film Music on the Female Gaze Lianbo Xia Shanghai World Foreign Language Academy China Psychology/Environmental Studies Melting Alpine Glaciers: Evidence, Consequences and Public Attitude Lijie Yin Shenzhen Middle School China Physics/Astronomy Properties of High Transverse Momentum J/ψ Mesons and Differentiation Between Their Non-prompt and Prompt Production Lingchen Wang Shanghai Starriver Bilingual School China Literature A Discourse on Utopia and the New World: Political Models in The Tempest Linxiang Sheng Shanghai High School International Division China Media Studies/Sociology/Culture Studies Displaced By Words: How Does Media Impact Gentrification? Lixing Li The Affiliated High School of South China Normal University, International Department China Physics Initial Condition and Parameter Dependence of the Tinkerbell Map Lucy Lu Shanghai High School International Division China Economics Modeling the Effects of Macroeconomic Policies on Business and Consumer Confidence During the COVID-19 Pandemic Mabel Xiaoya Li Shanghai Starriver Bilingual School China Culture Studies/Anthopology Bride Trafficking along the Belt and Road Circuit, and Beyond Mahima Sharma The International School Bangalore India Environmental Studies/Biology/Ecology Can the Adverse Impact of Nitrogen Fertilizers on the Environment and Climate be Mitigated by the Use of Sustainable Agricultural Methods? Matthew Barotz Scarsdale High School United States Environmental Studies The Potential for Next Generation Nuclear Technology: A Comparative Analysis of Germany, India, the United States, and China Matthew Moon Maranatha High School United States Physics Symmetries, Dynamics, and Degeneracies of a Mobius Strip in Synthetic Dimensions Matthew Wang Shanghai High School International Division China Biology Investigating the Mechanism by Which SARS-CoV-2 ORF3a Accessory Protein Mediates Lysosomal Exocytosis Mehmet Anıl İşkesen Bahcesehir High School for Science and Technology Turkey Physics/Astronomy Weak Field Effects of General Relativity Melissa Tran Central High School United States Film Studies/Gender Studies The Inevitability of Zombie-hood Michael Li Saint George's School Canada Chemistry A Computational Study on the Mechanism and the Regio and Stereoselectivity of Metal-mediated Nucleophilic Addition to Gem-difluoroallene Michelle Kim Groton School United States International Relations/Political Science “Division in Unity:” Identity and the Korean Unification Process Mingxuan Li Nanjing Foreign Language School China Neuroscience Sparse Autoencoder Model Predicts Spectro-temporal Receptive Fields in Various Structures of Mammalian Auditory Pathway Mukudzeiishe Madzivire African Leadership Academy South Africa Anthropology/Psychology The Ultimate Sacrifice: The Symbolic Significance of Self-Immolation in Political Protest Neelesh Pandey Gulliver Preparatory School United States Neuroscience The Effect of Antioxidants on Olfactory Dysfunction in Parkinson's Disease Nimrat Kaur Mercer County Technical Schools - Health Science Academy United States Gender Studies/Sociology Race, Gender, COVID-19, and Oral Health from a Patient and Provider Perspective Olamilekan Aleshe-Shittu African Leadership Academy South Africa Culture Studies/Film Studies/Sociology/Media Studies Art & The Decolonisation of African Identity: An Essay Exploring the Role of Fela in Movements of Decolonization Across the African Diaspora Peyton Price Alpha United States Sociology The Power of TikTok: Representing COVID-19 Pandemic Life for Generation Z Pranav Virupaksha Lynbrook High School United States Computer Science ViT4SF: Vision Transformers for Solar Forecasting Pui Han Man YK Pao School China Philosophy Seeking the Self in Confessions: How Does the Communicative Nature of Language Shape the Tension in Dostoevsky’s Underground Man’s Self-deception and Strive for Self-honesty (Authenticity)? Rashad Abdeltawab STEM High School for Boys - 6th of October Egypt Neuroscience/Biology/Chemistry Epigenetic Factors and Synaptic Plasticity in Cocaine Addiction: A Novel Therapeutic Approach Ruijia Young Shanghai Pinghe School China STS/Anthropology Utopia or Dystopia: Metaverse Imagination Ruiqi (Rachel) Xing Beijing 21st Century International School China Economics/International Relations Analyzing Causes of Chinese Internal Migration in 2020: Using the Extended Gravity Model Runqiu Ye Nanjing Foreign Language School China Engineering/Physics Thermal Stress in Thermoelectrically Coupled Nanoantennas Sadhvi Narayanan Lynbrook High School United States Computer Science Two-Tier Anomaly Detection for an Internet of Things Network Sarah Rose Odutola St. Andrew`s School United States Literature “Question Everything”: Jane Jacobs’ Insurgent Rectification of Modern Urban Womanhood Through City Design SaraVotey Mom Liger Leadership Academy Cambodia Business The Influence of Injunctive Social Norms Appeal on Behavioral Intention to Participate in Blood Donation Selina Song Irvington High School United States Economics Offshoring and the Coronavirus Pandemic Sharon Zhu Lynbrook High School United States Biology Inducing in vitro and in vivo Evolution of multidrug Resistant Pseudomonas Aeruginosa to Reverse Antimicrobial Resistance Using LptE Shehab Sherif Abd_Alsattar Abdalaziz Mohamed STEM High School for Boys - 6th of October Egypt Biology Curing T2DM and Obesity by Converting WAT into BAT by Using PLGA Nanostructure of (ECGC, Curcumin, and Piperine) Shravan Haribalaraman The International School, Bangalore India Mathematics Tilings of an n x 4 Board Using 4-minos and 4-squares Shuhan Cao German Swiss International School Hong Kong SAR, China Neuroscience/Biology Localising the Source of Calcium for Slow Adaptation in Cochlear Hair Cells Shujun (Lucas) Ma Dunman High School Singapore Sociology/Political Science Competing Pathways of Nationalism in the Chinese Civil War Siddharth Bhagwat Flower Mound High School United States Neuroscience A Proposal for a Lipidomic Analysis of Cerebrospinal Fluid in Patients with Multiple System Atrophy Siyang Liang The Affiliated High School of South China Normal University, International Department China Neuroscience A New Model for the Mechanisms Underlying Tactile Hypersensitivity in Adult ASD Suhh Yeon Kim Beverly Hills High School United States Psychology/Culture Studies Returning Comfort to "Comfort Women": The Effect of Korean Traditional Folk Music on Reactivity and Ethnic Identity Sultana Yeasmin Bronx High School of Science United States Neuroscience The World of Neuroprosthetics: Does Interoception Matter? Taren Patel Los Gatos High School United States Engineering/Computer Science Analysis of IBM's Transpiler and Optimizer for Quantum Circuits Tianyi Yuan Beijing Etown Academy China Engineering/Physics Engineering of 1D Photonic Crystals with Improved Efficiency for Thermophotovoltaics Tianyou Liu The Experimental High School Attached to Beijing Normal University China History Analyzing Song Qingling’s speech “the Freedom and Anti-war Struggle of China” From an Anti-colonial Perspective Wanyu Zhang The High School Affiliated to Renmin University of China China Biology Identification of Novel Small-molecule Inhibitors for Quorum-sensing Regulator LuxU Weining Wang Tsinghua International School China Media Studies Topic undisclosed Weiqiao (Maggie) Yang Suzhou Singapore International School China Culture Studies/Anthropology Tradition and Modernity: Taohuawu Woodcut New Year Pictures and Suzhou’s Social Landscapes Xiaochen Peng Shanghai Pinghe School China Chemistry/Biology Lowering Blood Cholesterol: Making the Case for Novel Derivatives of Atorvastatin with Bovine Serum Albumin Xiaohan (Emily) Zhang Wuhan Britain-China school China Environmental Studies A Review of Non-classic Biomanipulation Experiments at Freshwater Lakes in China and the Factors that Influence their Results Xiaolan Deng The Affiliated High School of South China Normal University, International Department China Computer Science Exploring the Interpretability of the Self-Trained CNN Model for Offline Handwritten Chinese Character Recognition Xiaqun (Judy) Sheng Harrow International School Hong Kong Hong Kong, China Psychology Social Media Use and Body Image Perception: The Development from Children to Adolescents in Rural and Urban China XinTong (Richie) Su The High School Affiliated to Renmin University of China China Gender Studies/Sociology Gender, Grammar, and Our Social World: Examining How Grammatical Genders Shape Attitudes Toward Gender and Sexual Diversity Xinyi Yang The Bishop Strachan School Canada Physics/Chemistry Synchrotron Radiation and X-Ray Absorption Analysis Application Xinyuan Wang Winston Churchill High School United States Business/Psychology The Impact of Message Source on Consumers' Attitudes and Purchase Intentions Toward Social Enterprise Xiping Le Hwa Chong Institution Singapore Neuroscience Identification and Functional Investigation of Attention-regulating Genes in the Zebrafish (Danio rerio) Ventral Habenula Yanzhi Ariel Chen Keystone Academy China Environmental Studies/Ecology Dammed Rivers: Hydropower Development Modifies Fish Community Dynamics in the 3S Basin of Mekong Yaran Zhang United World College in Mostar Bosnia and Herzegovina International Relations/Political Science Predicting Risks in Bosnia and Herzgovina Yash Agarwal Groton School United States Biology The Effect of Hypoxic Conditions on Smoking Induced Transcriptional Changes in the Expression of Cytochrome P450 Genes Yichen Zheng Shanghai Foreign Language School China Chemistry/Environmental Studies Application of Electrochemical Reduction of CO2 to Formic Acid Production in China-- a Case Study of Henan Yifan (Andy) Wang The High School Affiliated to Shanghai Jiao Tong University China Engineering/Mathematics Airworthiness Analysis of the Blended Wing Body Configuration by Using ANSYS Fluent as an Investigation Tool: SAX-40 as an Example Yihui (Angela) Zhong Shanghai American School China Psychology/Media Studies The Short-term Effects of Evaluative Conditioning on Body Dissatisfaction and Perception of Body Ideals and Norms Yiwei Xuan WLSA Shanghai Academy China Education The Effects of High-School English Teaching Objectives in Schools that Use Advanced Placement (AP) and Non-Advanced Placement (AP) Curricula in the United States and China on Students’ Academic and Perceived Achievements Yiwen (Stephanie) Hu The Bishop Strachan School Canada Psychology Inside the Criminal Mind: Interaction Between Psychological, Social, and Biological Factors in the Development of Antisocial Behaviors. Yongjae Kim North London Collegiate School Jeju South Korea History/Culture Studies/Political Science Protests and the Olympic Games: Mexico City 1968 and Seoul 1988 Yuanyuan (Yoyo) Xue The Experimental High School Attached to Beijing Normal University China Biology/Neuroscience The Efficacy of Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (rTMS) in Stroke Rehabilitation of The Upper Extremities: A Scoping Review Yuchen Chen Chengdu Foreign Languages School China Environmental Studies A Review of Epigenetic Effects of Microplastics on Living Organisms and the Further Implications Yuechen Lin BASIS International School Shenzhen China Media Studies/Sociology/Culture Studies Health Misinformation Strategies on Twitter Yujie Pan YK Pao School China Education An Investigation of African American and Caucasian American Students' Educational Outcomes in Relation to Their Ethnic Backgrounds Yunjia Quan Charlotte Country Day School United States Mathematics Improving Bit Coin’s Post-Quantum Transaction Efficiency with Novel Lattice-Based Aggregate Signature Scheme Based on CRYTSTALS-Dilithium and a STARK Protocol Yunze (Michael) Li Peddie School United States Engineering/Physics/Mathematics An Analysis of the Optimal 3D Printing Material for Compliant Mechanisms Yuzhou Li The Experimental High School Attached to Beijing Normal University China Political Science/International Relations Sub-Saharan and North African Migrant Workers’ Protests in France: A Brief History and Patterns of Contestation Zanzao Chen Shenzhen College of International Education China Economics/Environmental Studies Analyzing the Environmental and Cost Effectiveness of Emissions Trading Schemes: A Comparative Analysis of the US, EU, and South Korea Zhengyang Guan Beijing Academy China Economics/Psychology Polarization, Unemployment, Instability: An Account for the Declining Fertility Rate in the Developed Regions in China Zita Gloria Ineza Teta United World College East Africa, Moshi Campus Tanzania Chemistry Black Cumin Oil: A Potential Plant Derived Medicine for Skin Conditions Zubin Oommen Eastside Preparatory School United States STS/Computer Science Pandemic Early Warning Systems: A Social Media-Based Approach
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