Matteo Capotosti

Donors Seed Opportunities for Matteo Capotosti's Future

Matteo Capotosti, a May 2025 graduate of SVSU, is an accomplished international student from Italy currently pursuing a master's degree at the University of Iowa. While at SVSU, he was the Chief Engineer & Lead of Aerodynamic Systems Engineering for the Cardinal Formula Racing team as well as a member of the SVSU Swim and Dive team. During his time as an undergraduate, Matteo pursued research opportunities, studying the efficiency of electrohydrodynamic gas pumps. Matteo was the recipient of the SVSU Red & White University Merit Scholarship (for international and out of state students), the Swim & Dive Athletic Scholarship, and the donor-funded Carmona Engineering and Robert J. Black Scholarships. 

With donor support, Matteo was able to grow into a capable leader who will help transform the world.

Below is a speech given by Matteo at the 2025 Donor Appreciation Luncheon where he expressed his sincere gratitude to donors who helped him flourish while at SVSU.

Hi everyone, my name is Matteo Capotosti, and I am an international student from Italy. I was born in Rome, a city of five million people, but at 14, I moved to Sardinia, an island in the Mediterranean Sea with a population of about 1.5 million. You could say that was quite a change.

Since I was a kid, I’ve had a passion for fluid mechanics-related activities. I earned my flight license at 17, I’ve been a swimmer for as long as I can remember, and I’ve been sailing for more years than I can count.

When I decided to go to college, I made a list of all Division II swimming coaches and emailed each of them asking for a scholarship. Many emails didn’t go through, but many others did. SVSU was one of the few universities that met all my requirements: it offered both athletic and academic scholarships, had a mechanical engineering department, and had reasonable tuition and living expenses. The final piece that convinced me to commit to SVSU was its Formula SAE racing team. I had known about Formula SAE since high school, and I always knew it was something I wanted to be a part of during my college years. So, when I saw that SVSU had a team, I committed right away.

Since my freshman year, I’ve tried to take part in as many activities as possible. I joined the racing team and was quickly promoted to Aerodynamics Lead. I’ve also been involved in academic research. Under the guidance of my mentor, Dr. Mazumder, I’ve been researching electrohydrodynamic gas pumps, which is a very fancy way to describe a very efficient fan, except there is no fan... and yet the air still moves. If that sounds confusing, I agree.

After graduation, I plan to continue my studies in mechanical engineering with a concentration in fluid mechanics and eventually enter the job market as an aerodynamicist.

One theme throughout my college experience has been the availability of scholarships. I was determined to study mechanical engineering in college, but I chose SVSU because it offered me strong athletic and academic scholarships. During my senior year, I’ve been working as a resident assistant, which has been a great experience, and I’m grateful for all the people I have connected with through it. But the reason I first applied for the job was the scholarship that came with it.

My research position has added prestige to my resume and is likely one of the reasons I was accepted to the master's program I will start in September, but the reason I was looking for an on-campus job was that I needed to pay for basic needs like groceries.

Almost exactly a year ago, I was studying for finals at the SVSU library. I was stressed not just by the academic workload, but also because my student loan funds were running low, and I still had a year left before graduation. Then, I received an email informing me that I had been awarded a privately funded scholarship. The relief it brought allowed me to focus entirely on my academics and to perform the best I could.

For this reason, I want to thank all the donors who support SVSU students like me when we need it most. And of course, special thanks to Mr. and Mrs. Carmona for the Scott and Nancy Carmona Family Engineering Scholarship, and to the donors of the Robert J. Black Engineering Scholarship.

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