His primary research interests lie in the fields of probability, statistics, combinatorics and graph theory. His teaching interests at Duke Kunshan include data science and discrete mathematics.
He is the co-author of two books, "Bonferroni-type Inequalities with Applications" (Springer's Applied Probability Series, 1996) and "Products of Random Variables: Applications to Problems of Physics and to Arithmetical Functions" (Marcel Dekker, 2004). He also has had papers published in leading academic journals including Annals of Probability, SIAM Journal of Discrete Mathematics, Theory and Decisions, and Journal of Multivariate Analysis.
Simonelli has a master's degree and Ph.D. from Temple University, Philadelphia. Before joining Duke Kunshan, he was a professor of mathematics at McDaniel College, Westminster, U.S. Previously he was an associate professor of mathematics at Texas A&M University, Commerce.