pushkar sohoni was born in pune in 1976, and attended loyola high school (pune). after graduating with a bachelor of architecture (b.arch.) degree from the university of pune in 1999, he attended the university of pennsylvania school of design (then known as the graduate school of fine arts) to get a master of science (m.s.) in historic preservation. in 2002, he wrote a master's thesis under the guidance of prof. frank matero on preservation policy for the city walls of cairo. pushkar sohoni worked on conservation projects in mesa verde national park and in the saint louis cemetery in new orleans, as part of the architectural conservation laboratory at the university of pennsylvania. he was a member of the archaeological expedition to iran in 2004, to excavate sites of the jiroft culture. in 2005, he worked as a consultant architect for the architectural heritage division of intach, new delhi, working on the documentation of durbar hall in qila mubarak, patiala. in 2010, he received his doctoral degree (ph.d.) from the department of history of art, (school of arts & sciences) university of pennsylvania for his dissertation on the architecture of the nizam shahi dynasty. he worked under the supervision of prof. michael w. meister and prof. renata holod. his work on the palaces of the nizam shahs has been published in several places. pushkar sohoni was the post-doctoral fellow in indo-persian studies at the university of british columbia in 2010-2011, after which he returned to the university of pennsylvania as the south asia bibliographer and librarian at the university of pennsylvania libraries, and a lecturer in the department of south asian studies from 2011 to 2016. in this period, pushkar sohoni was in charge of the south asia collection at the university of pennsylvania libraries, and wrote a "widely circulated blog post" on collecting practices for libraries. he was on the advisory board of the title vi south asia center. pushkar sohoni also served as a member of the committee on south asian libraries and documentation (consald), and was on the executive board of the south asia materials project (samp) from 2013 to 2015. in october 2016, he joined the indian institute of science education and research, pune as an assistant professor, and became an associate professor in 2019. in 2017-18, he was a visiting associate professor at anant national university. in 2015, he authored a book, "aurangabad, with daulatabad, khuldabad, and ahmadnagar", focused on the sultanate architecture in the region. the book was quoted in a bombay high court order in 2018. in 2017, he co-authored with kenneth x. robbins, a book on the jewish heritage in the western deccan, titled "jewish heritage of the deccan: mumbai, the northern konkan and pune". in 2017-2018, he wrote a fortnightly column 'by the wayside' for the "pune mirror". in 2018, his book on the nizam shahs of ahmadnagar and their architectural legacy in 2018, called "the architecture of a deccan sultanate: courtly practice and royal authority in late medieval india" was published. he has also written about language, scripts, numismatics, and material culture.