David Cappelleri

Assistant Professor Mechanical Engineering

David Cappeleri received B.S. and M.S. degrees in mechanical engineering from Villanova University, and Pennsylvania State University, respectively, and a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering and applied mechanics from the University of Pennsylvania.

Before coming to Purdue, he was an assistant professor of mechanical engineering at Stevens Institute of Technology, Hoboken, NJ. His research interests include multi-scale robotic manipulation and assembly, mobile micro/nano robotics, micro-bio robotics, mechatronics, robotic system integration, medical robotics, MEMS/NEMS, micro/nano aerial vehicles, and automation for the life sciences.

Rebecca Kramer

Assistant Professor Mechanical Engineering

Rebecca Kramer received her B. S. in mechanical engineering at Johns Hopkins University; her M.S. in mechanical engineering at the University of California at Berkeley, and her Ph.D. in engineering sciences at Harvard University.

Her research focuses at the intersection of materials, manufacturing, and robotics. She has innovated in the areas of soft sensing, stretchable electronics, and digital fabrication with soft materials.

Amy Marconnet

Assistant Professor Mechanical Engineering

Amy Marconnet received a bachelor of science in mechanical engineering from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, in 2007, and a master’s and a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering at Stanford University in 2009 and 2012, respectively. Her dissertation focused on thermal phenomena in nanostructured materials. She then worked briefly as a postdoctoral associate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Her ongoing research focuses on energy conversion and heat transfer, in particular at the micro- and nano-scale. It integrates metrology and analysis of underlying transport mechanisms with design and development of nanostructured materials.

Pavlos Vlachos

Professor Mechanical Engineering

Pavlos Vlachos received his diploma in mechanical engineering from the National Technical University of Athens in 1995 and his 1998 M.S. degree and 2000 Ph.D. in engineering mechanics from Virginia Technical Institute. In 2003 he joined the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Virginia Tech as assistant professor and he was promoted to associate professor with tenure in 2007. He then became a full professor in 2011. In addition to his Purdue faculty appointment, he holds affiliate appointments with the Wake Forest School of Medicine and the Virginia Tech departments of mechanical engineering, biomedical engineering and engineering science and mechanics.

Vlachos’ research focuses on experimental fluid mechanics specializing on flow diagnostics using non-invasive methods, and on development of sensors and measurement techniques. General research interests include particle image velocimetry, measurement science and instrumentation, multi-phase flows, interfacial flows, biological flows, and biofluid mechanics. Past research activities include wakes, boundary layers, flow control, and fluid structure interaction.

Current active projects deal with: image velocimetry methods, uncertainty analysis, vortex induced vibrations and hydro-kinetic energy, multi-phase buoyant jets and plumes, water entry, animal drinking, gliding flight in nature, heart failure and diastolic dysfunction, quantitative medical imaging, arterial flows, blood damage, and engineered tumor micro-environments. He has performed and completed over 60 externally funded projects for a total of over $17 million in research expenditures.