难得有啥事让儿子表现得像从图书馆刚回来时那样兴奋：他接到了Pioneer Academics的回复，通知他入选了春季学期这轮辅导，他们给他分配了一名Hamilton College的心理学教授，将远程辅导他就Understanding the Sense of Touch through Neuroscience（通过神经科学了解触觉）开展为期八个月的科研项目，最终他将完成一篇科研论文，并且获得导师对其学术科研能力的评价信。

当初儿子啥也没有想地就做提交了申请，因为他在学科目录中看到了“神经科学”，这是他选择的大学专业方向，但高中这三年，学校不会开设与这个学科密切相关的课程，而儿子又那么渴望了解得更多，所以他觉得这个项目将弥补这一缺憾。我也完全支持，因为他的科研能力一定能够通过这个项目得到充分锻炼，这会为他未来大学的学习打下非常好的基础，同时，也会给他的大学申请加分。

这个项目和我们北外国际刚刚推出的 “少年研究员”培养计划不谋而合（重要区别是一个要交6000多美元的学费，一个由北外国际教育高峰论坛全额资助），儿子也报名参加了这个培养计划，因为他有一腔有关国际课程学习的问题在寻找答案。

当初我们设计这个项目的时候是想在北外国际教育高峰论坛上听到国际课程学生视角的观点，进而大胆地想到为什么不能让孩子们自己说说自己的事情，于是决定采取导师制的方法让北外教授带领孩子们完成这项调研，最终将科研成果在论坛上分享，并且在专刊上发表。

我们坚信，这样的项目能够让学生拥有全方位的收获，包括科学研究的方法、思路、步骤，学术写作和演讲的训练与实战，大学申请时教授对其研究能力的评价信（这可不同于推荐信，分量要重很多），与其他国际课程牛孩同台协作的机会等等。

有关这个培养计划，我只是想说我作为该项目的导师之一，渴望见到像儿子这样充满好奇心和求知欲的孩子们，通过这个项目把他们的视野带到一个更高的平台上，让他们对未来的大学学习充满自信和期待。

附：儿子当时给Pioneer Academics的申请信

I was initially interested in philosophy, having been inspired by a Chinese literature teacher. Later, reading about epistemology led me to the brave new world of neuroscience. Neuroscience can be highly multidisciplinary, and hence the beauty of it is also multidisciplinary: it combines the fascination one may gain from studying physics and doing all the fancy maths, the sophistication of biological researches, the charm of understanding our own brains and the care for humanity. That is perhaps why neuroscience appears so engaging to me.

The bridges built with education connect our built-in logic and emotions with knowledge. In junior high school, I have already bridged myself with knowledge enough for one to be seemingly satisfied -- I can do simple maths, understand shallow literature, communicate with foreigner, and have an idea or two about the sciences of the world. But there is more to knowledge and to bridges than that. The bridges are the obvious ones, the tunnels are not. The tunnels remain underwater, in the same way as people`s actual comprehension of knowledge hides from anyone else. These secret paths allow more exchange between the two sides, increasing the probability of positive emotions joining with knowledge, thus causing one to become passionate about knowledge. I believe that I have built a few of these tunnels, which explains why I am passionate about neuroscience and various other academic categories, and why I am willing to work on something academic. Participation in the Pioneer Research Program will certainly allow constructions of bridges to neuroscience, as well as tunnels to other fields -- this corresponds with the multidisciplinary nature of neuroscience and the methodological aspect of the Pioneer Research Program. Neuroscience has inspired my interests in linguistics and computer sciences, encouraging me to broad my horizons, which is a delightful experience before one is forced to specialise. Pioneer Research Program, on the other hand, provides a rare opportunity of understanding how to research, which involves both much professionalism and some creativity. They are not knowledge to be learnt by word, but to be experienced in a similar way to learning to swim. It is also possible that some of the previous bridges and tunnels can be eliminated in this process. Bridges and tunnels can be misguided, resulting in false information and logical fallacies. Bridges and tunnels can rust, and the best maintenance is to revise them and to refresh them with new knowledge. A bridge works both ways. In this case, it would mean that one can contribute to the current human knowledge. Such contribution may be a discovery or the creation of more useful models, as done in phD, or perhaps just to testify a humble idea and some explanations, as I have been expecting myself to work towards if I could participate in the Pioneer Research Program.