In addition to serving as professor in the School of Mechanical Engineering (with a courtesy appointment in the Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering), Cappelleri was recently appointed Assistant Vice President for Research Innovation in the Office of Research. He also serves as the Purdue site director for the National Science Foundation Engineering Research Center’s Internet of Things for Precision Agriculture (IoT4Ag), and was the faculty council co-chair of the Purdue engineering initiative Autonomous and Connected Systems from 2019 to 2024.

Cappelleri’s research interests include mobile microrobotics for biomedical and manufacturing applications, surgical robotics, automated manipulation and assembly, and unmanned aerial and ground robot design for agricultural applications. He has helped to develop tumbling microrobots that deliver targeted medication payloads into the body; swimming microrobots that set record speeds; and autonomous grasping robots designed to help operate unmanned space stations. He also demonstrated his lab's nanomanufacturing capabilities with a Guinness World Records™ title for the world's smallest drum.

Before joining the Purdue faculty in 2013 as an assistant professor, Cappelleri was an assistant professor of mechanical engineering at Stevens Institute of Technology and had previously worked as a field engineer and project engineer for the Radionics Division of Tyco Healthcare Group. He earned a BS from Villanova University, an MS from Penn State, and a PhD in mechanical engineering and applied mechanics from the University of Pennsylvania.

The ASME Committee of Past Presidents confers the Fellow grade of membership on worthy candidates to recognize their outstanding engineering achievements. Nominated by ASME Members and Fellows, an ASME Member has to have 10 or more years of active practice and at least 10 years of active corporate membership. Over 3,000 members have attained the grade of Fellow.