The world in 2022 is in many ways less connected than it was only a few years ago, as countries erect barriers to travel, trade, and large gatherings of people. Yet in other ways, the world is more interconnected than ever, as many have taken to online tools and communities to endure the isolation of lockdown and overcome barriers to professional growth and intellectual exploration. Even in our social distance, we are coming closer together, and this interconnectedness enables us to unlock the boundless potential of human ingenuity through the power of collaboration and mentorship. It is in this spirit that The Horizon Academic Research Program connects talented high school students from all over the world with scholars and university faculty to conduct meaningful academic research and rigorous intellectual inquiry. The Horizon Academic Research Journal showcases a sampling of the high quality work produced by high school students in the The Horizon Academic Research Program.
This journal issue represents diversity and excellence of our students from the 2020-2022 academic years. Students from 34 countries, from the United States East Coast, to Singapore, and many time zones in between, worked with researchers from 9 universities to produce scholarship on topics ranging from Bioinformatics to International Relations. By conducting the program online, we were able to cross physical boundaries that would have otherwise made such work impossible.
Out of more than 3,000 applicants to our program, 493 students were admitted and enrolled into our program from summer 2020 through summer 2021. These students worked either individually or in small groups with researchers, with the goal of producing an impactful research project. Some students produced original research, while others filled gaps in the current literature using knowledge gained over the course of their time at Horizon Academic. Of these students, 24 were selected to publish their work in this issue.
Despite being written by high school students, these papers display a level of thoughtfulness, analytical rigor, and ambition more typical of undergraduate students. Some papers are approachable introductions to fields that are difficult for the average person to access, while others cause us to question our understanding of ideas that we may think we are familiar with.
We are pleased to make this Volume available to the public and hope that this provides a window, not only into the skill and ability of each author, but also into the abilities of high school students to do meaningful research without the use of physical lab spaces. It is our pleasure and honor to share this work with you.
The embedded viewer below allows you to browse the entire journal volume, and you may also access the journal through our pre-print server here.