15 Engineering Programs for High School Students in Pennsylvania
Engineering programs can help you explore areas like mechanical design, robotics, biomedical engineering, or civil engineering while still in high school. You can find opportunities that range from building and testing prototypes to research projects and design competitions, depending on your interests. Many are hosted by universities and technical organizations, giving you the chance to work with faculty, graduate students, and practicing engineers.
Why should you attend an Engineering program in Pennsylvania?
Pennsylvania has a strong cluster of universities and organizations that offer engineering programs specifically for high school students. Depending on where you look, you might find yourself building and testing prototypes, diving into biomedical or materials science, working on civil engineering challenges, or exploring computer-aided design. These programs draw students from within the state and from out of state who want to engage with Pennsylvania's academic and research environment. If you're curious about engineering as a field and want a clearer sense of what it actually involves, spending a summer in one of these programs is a reasonable way to find out.
We've narrowed down our list to 15 engineering programs for high school students in Pennsylvania.
If you’re looking for programs in Pennsylvania, check out our blog here.
Key takeaways
These 15 programs span mechanical design, robotics, biomedical engineering, materials science, AI, computational biology, civil engineering, and architectural engineering, so students with a wide range of engineering interests can find a relevant option in Pennsylvania or online.
Several programs are free, including Penn State Harrisburg's STEM Summer Enrichment Program, CMU Summer Academy for Math and Science, Penn Summer Science Initiative, and Lumiere Research Scholar Program (with full financial aid), while others, such as M&TSI and ESAP, offer college credit alongside their tuition-based structure.
Many programs provide hands-on prototyping and lab experience, including Temple University's Summer Robotics Institute (building a mobile robot from scratch), Pitt CampBioE (3D bioprinting with hydrogel-based biomaterials), and Point Park STEAM Design Camp (Arduino, 3D printing, and Tinkercad).
Programs vary significantly in length and format, from five-day intensives, such as Penn State's Building Our Future and Point Park's STEAM Design Camp, to six-week residential programs, such as CMU SAMS and Lehigh's Summer Engineering Institute.
Application deadlines for the most selective programs fall early, including Penn Summer Science Initiative (February 1), NovaEdge (February 15), and ESAP (February 28), so students should begin preparing materials in the fall.
1. STEM Summer Enrichment Program
Location: Middletown, PA
Cost: Free
Program Dates: June 15 – 26
Deadline: February 27
Eligibility: High school students currently in 9th or 10th grade
Penn State Harrisburg's School of Science, Engineering, and Technology’s curriculum spans a wide range of STEM fields, but engineering is a core thread throughout. Activities span civil, mechanical, and electrical engineering, as well as mathematics, computer science, physics, chemistry, and biology. You'll work through hands-on experiments, field trips, demonstrations, and projects, and you'll also get training in how to create scientific presentations. The program wraps up with participants receiving a certificate of accomplishment, and graduates are invited to attend Penn State Harrisburg's School of Science, Engineering, and Technology Capstone Design Conference the following spring. While this enrichment program covers a wide spectrum of natural sciences and mathematics, engineering remains a core structural thread across its hands-on building experiments and final presentations.
2. Veritas AI
Location: Virtual
Cost: Varies depending on program type. Full financial aid available
Program Dates: Multiple 12-15-week cohorts throughout the year, including spring, summer, fall, and winter
Deadline: Rolling. Spring (January), Summer (May), Fall (September), and Winter (November). You can apply to the program here
Eligibility: High school students. AI Fellowship applicants should either have completed the AI Scholars program or exhibit experience with AI concepts or Python
Veritas AI, founded and run by Harvard graduate students, offers programs for high school students who are passionate about artificial intelligence. Students looking to get started in AI, ML, and data science would benefit from the AI Scholars program. Through this 10-session boot camp, students are introduced to the fundamentals of AI & data science and have the opportunity to work on real-world projects. Another option for more advanced students is the AI Fellowship with Publication & Showcase. Through this program, students have the opportunity to work 1:1 with mentors from top universities on a unique, individual project. A bonus of this program is that students have access to the in-house publication team to help them secure publications in high school research journals. You can also check out some examples of past projects here and read about a student’s experience in the program here.
3. Summer Academy for Math and Science (SAMS)
Location: Pittsburgh, PA
Cost: Free
Program Dates: June 20 – August 1
Deadline: Not specified
Eligibility: Must be in 11th grade at the time of application and at least 16 years old by June 20; U.S. citizen or permanent resident
The Summer Academy for Math and Science is specifically designed for students who are underrepresented in STEM fields. The six-week residential program puts you in courses and hands-on projects for full days, working with CMU faculty and staff mentors in a structure that mirrors the first semester of a CMU freshman experience. The program wraps up with a research symposium where scholars present their work, and a third component keeps you connected post-summer through virtual sessions on college prep, FAFSA, and other development opportunities. Though not exclusively an engineering program, the curriculum features intensive STEM projects that mirror the technical problem-solving required in collegiate engineering disciplines.
4. Lumiere Research Scholar Program
Location: Remote — you can participate in this program from anywhere in the world!
Cost: Varies depending on program type. Full financial aid available
Program Dates: Varies by cohort: summer, fall, winter, or spring. Options range from 12 weeks to 1 year
Deadline: Varying deadlines based on cohort
Eligibility: You must be currently enrolled in high school and demonstrate a high level of academic achievement
The Lumiere Research Scholar Program is a rigorous research program tailored for high school students. The program offers extensive 1-on-1 research opportunities for high school students across a broad range of subject areas. The program pairs high school students with Ph.D. mentors to work 1-on-1 on an independent research project. At the end of the 12-week program, you’ll have developed an independent research paper! You can choose research topics from subjects such as psychology, physics, economics, data science, computer science, engineering, chemistry, international relations, and more. You can find more details about the application here, and check out students’ reviews of the program here and here.
5. Penn Summer Science Initiative (PSSI)
Location: Philadelphia, PA
Cost: Free
Program Dates: July 6 – 30
Deadline: February 1
Eligibility: Students entering junior or senior year of high school; must be within daily commuting distance of Penn's campus; U.S. citizen or permanent resident; must have completed chemistry and/or physics coursework
The Penn Summer Science Initiative is a four-week materials science program run by Penn's Materials Research Science and Engineering Center. Only 14 students are accepted each year; it's one of the smaller and more selective programs you'll find at this level. The curriculum covers a range of characterization techniques that most high school students don't encounter until university, including scanning electron and optical microscopy, thermal analysis, mechanical testing, and X-ray diffraction. The program combines formal lectures from Penn faculty and affiliated researchers with workshops, hands-on activities, and field trips, including a visit to the GRASP Laboratory to see Autonomous Aerial Vehicles and to the Nanoscale Characterization Facility to view its electron microscopes. While centered on the fundamental discipline of materials science, the program introduces students to advanced laboratory characterization techniques essential to materials engineering.
6. Summer Engineering Institute (SEI)
Location: Bethlehem, PA
Cost: Not specified
Program Dates: Session 1: June 28 – July 11 | Session 2: July 12 – 25
Deadline: Students are nominated and selected by their school districts
Eligibility: Rising high school juniors and seniors; students must be nominated by a school district that participates in the Lehigh University School Study Council (LUSSC) partnership
Lehigh's Summer Engineering Institute is built around a lab-based, team-focused approach to engineering and technology. Once you're in, you work on collaborative projects spanning a range of engineering topics, including 3D printing, robotics, nanoscience, earthquake mitigation, bioengineering, environmental remediation, and computer science. Lehigh students and faculty lead the sessions throughout, serving as mentors, and the program includes virtual field trips to regional science and tech businesses and research centers so you can see how these fields operate outside a classroom.
7. NovaEdge Diversity in Engineering Academy
Location: Villanova, PA
Cost: $775
Program Dates: July 11 – 18
Deadline: February 15
Eligibility: Rising high school sophomores, juniors, and seniors
NovaEdge is designed to introduce students from diverse ethnic and social backgrounds to engineering as a field of study and career. During the week, you'll attend lectures and hands-on lab experiments taught by Villanova Engineering faculty, working across Chemical, Civil and Environmental, Computer and Electrical, and Mechanical Engineering. Guest speakers come in daily to connect the classroom work to real industry practice. Beyond the core engineering content, the program covers aspects of Villanova's College of Engineering that don't always show up in typical program listings, including international service learning, Sustainable Engineering, and Engineering Entrepreneurship. Evenings are a mix of resident assistant-led activities and time to work on assigned engineering projects. There's also a session on the college admissions process built into the week.
8. Summer Robotics Institute
Location: Philadelphia, PA
Cost: Not specified
Program Dates: Session I: June 22 – July 2 | Session II: July 6 – 17 | Session III: July 20 – 31
Deadline: Not specified
Eligibility: Students entering grades 10, 11, or 12
Temple University's Summer Robotics program lasts two weeks, during which you'll construct a mobile robot from scratch and program it to complete real tasks such as obstacle avoidance, lane-following, playing music, and more. The technical content covers sensors, motors, microcontrollers, and electrical components, and you'll work in both MakeCode for visual programming and Python for object-oriented programming. The program is taught by Temple professors, graduate students, and undergraduates in a state-of-the-art electronics lab and is framed as an introduction to college-level electrical and computer engineering.
9. BIOMED Summer Academy
Location: Philadelphia, PA
Cost: $1,500
Program Dates: Session I: July 6 – 10 | Session II: July 13 – 17 | Session III: July 20 – 24
Deadline: May 29
Eligibility: Rising high school sophomores, juniors, and seniors from Philadelphia and surrounding regions; must have completed one year of biology; interest in mathematics, engineering, or health and life sciences
Drexel's BIOMED Summer Academy introduces high school students to biomedical engineering through a week of hands-on lab work and direct exposure to the industry. During the week, you'll work through interactive activities that build core lab skills and research techniques, while also getting exposure to the biomedical industry through site visits, seminars, and presentations from working professionals. Admission is competitive, and applicants must have at least 1 year of biology coursework and demonstrate interest in math, engineering, or the life sciences.
10. Management & Technology Summer Institute (M&TSI)
Location: Philadelphia, PA
Cost: $9,000
Program Dates: July 5 – 25
Deadline: March 25
Eligibility: Rising high school seniors only; 75 participants selected based on academic achievement and extracurricular leadership
M&TSI is a for-credit residential program at the University of Pennsylvania. Over three weeks, you'll take courses taught by full-time Wharton and Penn Engineering faculty, attend guest lectures from prominent researchers and entrepreneurs, and participate in simulations led by industry innovators. The centerpiece of the program is an intensive team project in which you’ll build a working prototype and develop a go-to-market plan for a high-tech venture, then present it to Penn faculty, entrepreneurs, and investors for real feedback. Students who complete the program receive one full college credit from Penn's School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.
11. CampBioE 2.0
Location: Pittsburgh, PA
Cost: $500 per week
Program Dates: Week 1: June 22 – 26 | Week 2: July 6 – 10
Deadline: Rolling admissions
Eligibility: High school scholars in grades 9–12; Weeks 1 and 2 are open exclusively to high school students for 3D bioprinting
CampBioE 2.0 is a day camp run by the Department of Bioengineering at the University of Pittsburgh, and for high school students, the two dedicated sessions in June and July center entirely on 3D bioprinting. This experience teaches you to convert a commercial plastic 3D printer into a functional bioprinter. You'll design new scaffolds and fabricate vascular scaffolds with hydrogel-based biomaterials. The process involves real lab work and materials, guided by Pitt bioengineering professors and undergraduate students who act as counselors and mentors.
12. STEAM Design & Robotics Camp
Location: Pittsburgh, PA
Cost: $800 (commuter) | $1,550 (residential)
Program Dates: July 27 – 31
Deadline: Open to the first 16 students who register and pay a deposit
Eligibility: Students entering grades 9–12 as of Fall 2026 or 2026 high school graduates
Point Park University's STEAM Design & Robotics Camp is a five-day immersive program built around human-centered design and engineering. Each day combines structured design sessions with hands-on prototyping, and you'll work with tools such as Tinkercad, Arduino, 3D printing, and Hummingbird kits throughout the week. The program follows a full design thinking arc starting from empathy-driven problem framing, moving through low-tech and high-tech prototyping, and ending with a final showcase where you present your project. AI integration and storytelling techniques are also woven into the sessions, which is a bit different from a straight engineering or robotics camp.
13. TryEngineering Summer Institute
Location: Philadelphia, PA
Cost: $4,395
Program Dates: Session I: July 19 – 27 | Session II: July 30 – August 7
Deadline: Not specified
Eligibility: High school students
TryEngineering Summer Institute is a nine-day residential engineering program hosted on the University of Pennsylvania campus in Philadelphia and run by IEEE, one of the world's largest technical professional organizations. The engineering curriculum covers civil, mechanical, electrical, and chemical engineering through a set of hands-on team projects: building and flight-testing drone prototypes, designing and competing with remotely operated aquatic robots (Sea Perch), constructing gliders and launch systems, and building functional wind turbines that convert kinetic energy into electricity. The program includes skills rotations in soldering, programming, breadboarding, and computer-aided design, providing hands-on experience in engineering fundamentals. During the Philadelphia session, field trips will feature visits to Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, the Naval Surface Warfare Center Philadelphia, and a tour of the Simeone Foundation Automotive Museum.
14. Building Our Future Summer Camp
Location: University Park, PA
Cost: $1,150
Program Dates: July 13 – 17
Deadline: Not specified
Eligibility: High school students ages 15 and older
Penn State's Department of Architectural Engineering runs this five-day overnight camp at University Park, designed around the question of how high-performance buildings actually get designed and built. Each day of the week concentrates on a different engineering specialty: construction, mechanical, lighting, and structural, guided by faculty with expertise in each respective area. The schedule is hands-on from the start: you'll work through construction fundamentals, explore sustainable design at Morningstar House, run experiments in the Light Lab, tackle structural design problems, and finish the week with a concrete demolition session in the EDI High Bay. The group also travels to Bellefonte, PA, for a tour of historic architecture, putting the engineering principles from the week into a real-world context.
15. Engineering Summer Academy at Penn (ESAP)
Location: Philadelphia, PA
Cost: $9,250
Program Dates: July 12 – 31
Deadline: February 28
Eligibility: Rising sophomores, juniors, or seniors; must have completed 9th grade and be at least 15 years old by the program start date; minimum 3.0 GPA required
The Engineering Summer Academy at Penn invites you to choose one course and explore it in depth. Your options include Artificial Intelligence, Biotechnology, Computer Graphics, Computer Science, AI x Bio, Nanotechnology, and Robotics. You’ll spend the entire program within your chosen discipline, working through a combination of classroom instruction and hands-on lab work in a university environment. Admission is selective; the program looks for students with strong academic records, the ability to work both independently and collaboratively, and genuine motivation to engage with college-level material.
Frequently asked questions
1. What engineering programs are available for high school students in Pennsylvania?
Options include general STEM and engineering programs, such as Penn State Harrisburg STEM Enrichment and CMU SAMS, biomedical and materials science programs, such as Drexel BIOMED Academy, Pitt CampBioE, and Penn Summer Science Initiative, robotics programs, such as Temple Summer Robotics and TryEngineering Summer Institute, AI and computing programs, such as Veritas AI, ESAP, and Lumiere, and design-focused programs, such as Point Park STEAM Design Camp and Penn State Building Our Future.
2. Are there free engineering programs for high school students in Pennsylvania?
Yes, several programs are free, including Penn State Harrisburg STEM Summer Enrichment Program, CMU Summer Academy for Math and Science, and Penn Summer Science Initiative. Lumiere Research Scholar Program and Veritas AI offer full financial aid, and Lehigh's Summer Engineering Institute is fully funded for eligible students nominated by their school districts.
3. Which Pennsylvania engineering programs are best for students interested in biomedical engineering?
Students interested in biomedical engineering might consider Drexel BIOMED Summer Academy for lab-based exposure to biomedical engineering, Pitt CampBioE for hands-on 3D bioprinting with real biomaterials, and ESAP's AI x Bio or Biotechnology tracks for interdisciplinary engineering at the intersection of biology and technology.
4. Do any engineering programs in Pennsylvania offer college credit?
Yes, M&TSI at the University of Pennsylvania awards one full college credit from Penn's School of Engineering and Applied Sciences upon completion. ESAP also operates at a college level, and Penn State Harrisburg's program invites graduates to attend a university capstone design conference the following spring.
5. Which programs are open to students outside Pennsylvania?
Several programs are fully virtual and open to students regardless of location, including Veritas AI and Lumiere Research Scholar Program. TryEngineering Summer Institute and ESAP also accept students from outside Pennsylvania, and CMU SAMS welcomes applications from underrepresented students nationwide.
6. When should I apply to engineering programs for high school students in Pennsylvania?
The earliest deadlines include Penn Summer Science Initiative (February 1), NovaEdge at Villanova (February 15), Penn State Harrisburg STEM Enrichment (February 27), and ESAP (February 28). Programs, such as M&TSI (March 25) and Drexel BIOMED Academy (May 29), fall later in the spring. Students should begin researching options in the fall, as some programs, such as Pitt CampBioE and Point Park STEAM Design Camp, accept rolling admissions until spots are filled.