Dr. Punavasu Joshi did his B.S.E. in Electrical Engineering at Arizona State University (ASU), Arizona, USA, in 2005. After the completion of his B.S.E, with the encouragement and recommendation of Dr. Trevor Thornton (Ph.D. Cambridge), Director of the Center for Solid State Electronics Research and Professor of Quantum Electronics, Punarvasu was admitted directly to the Ph.D. program with a scholarship. Under the direction of Dr. Thornton, Punavasu conducted research in the field of ​​DNA sequencing of nanotechnology. During his research, Punavasu published papers in several international journals. He was awarded a Ph.D. in 2011.

During his research, Punarvasu was also associated with ASU’s Center for Nanotechnology in Society. The program took selected students from science and engineering backgrounds and introduced them to the complexities of science policymaking along with exposure to the topics such as science and philosophy, such as power and science, history of science, philosophy of science, politics and science, law and science. The Center through its program provided an opportunity to interact with policymakers from institutions related to these disciplines such as the National Science Foundation, National Institute of Health, Capital Hill, Office of Science and Technology Policy, etc. under the White House.

Punarvasu also participated, representing his university, in an eight-day workshop on science and politics, organized by the National Academy of Science of America in 2008.

Upon returning to India in 2014, Punarvasu started working in the field of translation. He has edited a special issue of the Hindi literary magazine Rachna Samay focused on the late French post-modern philosopher Michel Foucault. Punarvasu also translated some of Foucault’s writings into Hindi for the special issue. 

Apart from that Punarvasu has translated 40 selected Hindi short stories, covering the last 125 of Hindi short story writing, into English for a 1000-page-long, two-volume anthology titled A Journey In Time I & II (2019).

Punarvasu’s translation of Hindi writer Manoj Kumar Pandey’s short story  Sone Ki Gai Mein Badalta Ek Desh (A Country Turning Into A Golden Cow) was published in the special issue of the Commonwealth Foundation’s magazine Adda which was focused on the short stories from South Asia and Southeast Asia.

Punarvasu lives in Mumbai, India.