Costanzo earned a laurea (master's degree) in electrical engineering, through a 5-year course of study, in 1987 at the University of Bologna.
In 1989, through a national competition, she won a permanent research position at the University of Bologna, bypassing the need to earn a doctorate.
[1] From 2015 to 2017 she chaired the Technical Committee on Wireless Power Transmission and Conversion of the IEEE Microwave Theory and Techniques Society.
[1] In 2017, Costanzo became a distinguished lecturer of the IEEE Council on radio-frequency identification (CRFID).
[2] In 2022, Costanzo was named an IEEE Fellow "for contributions to nonlinear electromagnetic co-design of RF and microwave circuits".