Session One of STEP 2024 Program makes a pit stop at Purdue BME

Michael Linnes demonstrates an activity to the students.
Michael Linnes demonstrates an activity to the students.
Austin Glidden speaks to students about their suggested plan of study as well as co-op, study abroad, and career opportunities.
Austin Glidden speaks to students about their suggested plan of study as well as co-op, study abroad, and career opportunities.
Students attempt to find materials that replicate the flexibility and strength of a chicken bone as a part of an activity.
Students attempt to find materials that replicate the flexibility and strength of a chicken bone as a part of an activity.
The Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering welcomed students from the first session of the Seminar for Top Engineering Prospects (STEP) Thursday.

STEP is a weeklong program for rising high school seniors to discover a variety of engineering disciplines. During the program, students learn fundamental design skills along with multiple other skills from the industry. The purpose of STEP is to expose students to life as a Purdue engineering student.

As a part of the program, students select two engineering disciplines in Purdue’s College of Engineering to tour and learn more in-depth. Almost a dozen students chose biomedical engineering as one of their disciplines.

Micheal Linnes, lecturer and instructional laboratory coordinator, led the students through the labs located in the Martin C. Jischke Hall of Biomedical Engineering: Biomechanics and Materials Lab, Tissue Culture Lab, Bioinstrumentation Lab and the BME Design Lab. Other staff members on the tour included Asem Aboelzahab, Austin Glidden, Darcy Allen, and Vladislav Marasigan, who also helped provide the students with information about the biomedical engineering discipline and the Weldon School.

During the tour, students learned about the various career, co-op and study abroad opportunities as well as a suggested plan of study for a biomedical engineering student. The students also took part in several biomedical engineering-related activities.

The tour received several pieces of positive feedback from the students.

“I enjoyed learning about the opportunities that biomedical engineering has to offer,” said Maggie Stewart, a STEP 2024 student.

One student was in awe of the numerous medical devices that are used to detect a multitude of health problems.

“This tour has taught me about the biomedical engineering discipline and how it incorporates medicine and engineering in a bunch of different ways,” said Maanasa Miriyala, another student on the tour. “From helping people find heart problems or any disease, I think it’s cool that they make medical instruments to detect those.”

There are three sessions of STEP. Session two will take place July 14 to July 20, and session three will occur from July 21 to July 27.