Pranke received his doctorate in Buddhist Studies from the University of Michigan in 2004. He has conducted research and worked in Burma and northern India for a number of years and is affiliated with the Buddhist academy, Thitagu Kaba Buddha Takkathol, in Sagaing, Burma, where he has served as an instructor and translator. His research interests include Burmese Buddhist monastic history and historiography, sangha-state relations, Buddhist scholasticism, and Burmese popular religion. His interests in north India include village Hinduism, pilgrimage and the geography of sacred sites. In the United States he examines immigrant Buddhism and the dynamics of integration. Pranke’s articles have appeared in Buddhism in Practice, the Encyclopedia of Buddhism, and the Journal of Burma Studies.