Catherine Karnitis holds bachelor's and master's degrees from the Art History Department at Ohio State, where she concentrated in South Asian art history, specifically ancient and medieval Hindu art. She also studied several languages, including Sanskrit, Hindi, and Urdu, to support her research and teaching. Catherine studied art history and history at the PhD level at the University of California, Berkeley and holds a Master of Fine Arts degree in Creative Writing from the University of San Francisco. Her research and teaching interests include Indian and Himalayan Buddhist art, tantric art, pilgrimage sites, architecture and politics, and death and commemoration.