Seminar for Top Engineering Prospects gives Purdue-minded students hands-on engineering experiences

students at STEP events giving high-five

STEP students share a high-five during the autonomous robot challenge.

From July 6–Aug. 2, 2025, 320 engineering-minded rising high school seniors poured into Purdue University to channel their passions and skills into creation: roller coasters, video games and PAC-MAN-themed robots that functioned from the initial “on” switch to “game over.” 

The Seminar for Top Engineering Prospects (STEP), created in 1985, serves high school seniors who are seriously considering Purdue as a pathway for high-quality engineering education. Hailing from 37 U.S. states and countries, including China, the Czech Republic, India, South Korea, Spain and Qatar, students entered a weeklong dive into cutting-edge engineering and collaborative innovation, guided by Engineering Honors Program (EHP) staff and students.  

Student working on coaster project.

A student examines the team's roller coaster track.

“At STEP, innovation is a mindset, and excellence is only the beginning,” said Melissa Hale, the senior program manager of EHP. “There’s no better way to build lasting relationships and new perspectives than through teamwork and guidance, which is what the students experience during the program.” 

Current EHP students are hired as interns and help design the program content and lead all lectures and challenge labs, providing students with engaging and hands-on learning experiences. 

STEP mirrors the rigor and team-driven innovation of Purdue’s First-Year Engineering Program and honors experience with a fast-paced schedule full of discovery and challenge.  From the moment they arrived, students were deep in hands-on labs and design challenges, building and improving a functional roller coaster in the HCR STEAM Lab, coding a video game with Arduino software — one of several coding skills strengthened through Honors First-Year Engineering courses — and guiding an autonomous robot to avoid ghosts and collect foam Pac-Dots in an homage to the famed Atari game, played out in the France A. Córdova Recreational Sports Center. 

For one week each summer, STEP participants do more than hear about engineering at Purdue. They live it. 

Students excited at coaster project at STEP.

A STEP team celebrates their functional roller coaster's successful run, the first major design challenge of the weeklong experience.