Adib Mustofa
Marine and Environmental Biology University of Southern California Adib's research will investigate the population genetic structures of coral species across the Indonesia region. He aims to study the genetic variation of a coral species, Acropora hyacinthus, across Indonesia's water. In addition, the algal endosymbionts of the species, Family Symbiodiniaceae, which can be a proxy for the adaptive potentials of the coral population in the face of climate changes will also be explored. Indonesia provides a natural laboratory for coral reef research since it is located in the Coral Triangle region which harbors the world’s most diverse coral species – more than 600 coral species (only around 100 coral species in the Floridian region as a comparison). Thus, this study will assist to inform the management and conservation efforts of the vulnerable coral reef ecosystem in the region. 
Amrina Rosyada
Anthropology Northwestern University Amrina's dissertation explores the intricate issue of marine plastic pollution and its disproportionate impact on urban coastal communities, particularly those already vulnerable to climate change. She plans to conduct fieldwork in Jakarta Bay, where she examines how fisherfolk communities cope with the plastic crisis and envision the future, oscillating between hope and despair. Amrina perceives pollution as a form of violence deeply rooted in historical and structural contexts. By shedding light on these dynamics, she aspires for her research to make a meaningful socio-cultural contribution to Indonesia's efforts in mitigating marine plastic pollution. . . |
Agustina Kustulasari
Educational Policy and Leadership University at Albany - SUNY Agustina’s research looks into the multi-faceted notion of university autonomy, particularly from the perspective of government-university relationship. The study will highlight the PTN-BH (Perguruan Tinggi Negeri – Berbadan Hukum) initiative to understand the state of financial autonomy of the public higher education institutions relative to their private counterparts. As the boundaries between public and private higher education institutions are arguably blurring, this comparative approach will allow her to offer an analysis on the nuances and uniqueness (if there is) of autonomy in public universities. This study is also an effort to contribute to building the body of knowledge on the subject from a developing Asian nation perspective. Agustina feels privileged to be working on her dissertation under the tutelage of a SUNY distinguished professor, Daniel C. Levy. 
Anjar Utomo
STEM education University of Minnesota Undeniably, the powerful global influence of STEM education has shifted how science teachers are expected to teach science to their K-12 students. The term STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics), introduced by the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) in 2001, is widely used to elevate K-12 science teaching and learning worldwide. The pedagogical changes expected from these new STEM education policies are complex, necessitating teachers to negotiate their identity, new norms, institutions, and processes. These changes are even more complicated in most developing countries, such as Indonesia, which do not have the educational structure in place to support STEM education fully. My dissertation aims to better understand how Indonesian preservice science teachers learn STEM education and construct their STEM teacher identity through an induction program that including two foundation alternatives of STEM problems (pure STEM and STEM relevance problems) as a context in supporting kinds of STEM integration in their science instruction. |
Arya Budi
Political Science University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Drawing on the literature on the psychological model of voting behavior, Arya’s dissertation asks about the extent to which a presidential candidate generates affective attachment and group identification, later conceptualized as Pres-ID, and under what conditions Pres-ID develops. To examine this question, he will attempt several empirical strategies, most of which will take the case of the 2024 Indonesian Election. Other than a cross-national study that covers more than 80 countries, a three-wave panel survey, along with a vignette experiment and a causal observation on Twitter, will be conducted in line with the electoral period of the 2024 Indonesian election. Interviews and field observations will also be employed as a confirmatory strategy to draw the theoretical mechanisms. This study uncovers variables that are necessary to mitigate residual consequences of an excessive Pres-ID, exemplified by post-electoral insurrections in the US and Brazil currently. For a broader implication, observing presidential identification and its effects on mass political behavior provides an alternative explanation of how electoral democracy works. 
Dede Setiono
Public Policy Oregon State University Setiono's dissertation project aims to address a notable gap in the existing literature on collaborative governance. While collaborative governance has been extensively studied and documented in developed and wealthier economies, there is limited research conducted in developing settings. Consequently, it remains uncertain whether the lessons learned from collaborative governance in developed countries can be applied to developing nations. To bridge this gap, this research project will focus on a government-led collaborative governance arrangement in Indonesia, specifically in the context of wildfire management. By employing a combination of research methods, including a comparative case study, in-depth interviews, and document analysis, the study aims to shed light on this relatively unexplored area. The research will concentrate on two distinct collaborative schemes: one facilitated by the government through the Masyarakat Peduli Api (MPA) or Fire Care Community (FCC), and the other organized by the private sector, specifically the forestry industry, with their Aliansi Bebas Api (ABA) or Fire Free Alliance (FFA) program. Ultimately, the research aims to contribute to the sustainable management of wildfires and the improvement of collaborative governance practices in Indonesia. 
Feni Kurniati
Architecture University of Oregon Feni centers her research on the massive use of vernacular architecture as tourist accommodation in Indonesia. Acknowledging the dynamics between economic urgency and pressure on cultural conservation, Feni delves into the application of homestay provision programs by focusing on topical issues of ownership (whose vernacular is used and for whose advantage) and sustainability (how sustainability is being addressed in the programs). She plans to use multiple case studies to illustrate how the government's approaches, from top-down to NGO involvement, impact host communities' livelihood, particularly their social, cultural, economic, and environmental sustainability. 
Inditian Latifa
Anthropology UC Santa Cruz My project explores the recent efforts by multiple local stakeholders, including governmental bodies, non- governmental organizations, academic circles, and peasant farmers, to rediscover and revive the long histories of pepper production and trade in present-day Aceh, Indonesia. In premodern times, Indonesia played a pivotal role in the global spice trade and was internationally recognized as a key producer of the original holy trinity of the spice trade: pepper, clove, and nutmeg. The Aceh Sultanate emerged as a prominent pepper source in the region until Dutch colonial expansion disrupted Aceh's flourishing pepper industry in the late nineteenth century. My project seeks to understand why the historical era of Aceh's pepper production and trade has captivated the collective interest of various local stakeholders in Aceh today. It also seeks to rethink the continuity-discontinuity framework used to analyze political-economic formations in Southeast Asia over the long durée that overemphasize European disruption. 
Laras Susanti
Law University of Pittsburgh Laras's research focuses on the role of Indonesia's Constitutional Court (MK) in the paralyzed legislation making of family law matters. She studies the MK jurisprudence under the 1974 Marriage Act in cases involving women's and children's rights that implicated the interpretation of Islamic law. She will interview state and non-state actors to understand the MK's strategy and decisions' implications for Indonesia's society. Her research will contribute to the discourse of constitutional courts in Muslim societies in cases regarding women and children. 
Netty Herawaty
Political Science/ Comparative Politics Arizona State University The aim of this research is to analyze the candidate selection process across political parties and its consequences for women’s representation in Indonesia’s national parliament. Importantly, this study shows how informal rules coexist with formal candidate selection in centralized parties in new democracies. To investigate the role of informal rules in candidate selection, this study will conduct semi-structured interviews with legislative candidates running for the national parliament. Using a new institutionalist approach, this study will contribute to the development of studies in the field of comparative politics and political parties in new democracies. |
CahyaYunizar
Family Social Science University of Minnesota Twin-Cities Cahya's study aims to understand better the social construction of self-agency in early marriage, or child marriage, within a particular community in East Java, Indonesia. She will investigate how the community conceptualizes self-agency to inform Indonesian early-married women's perceived marital outcomes. She will conduct Forum Group Discussions (FGDs) with community members to discuss issues related to early marriage, marital quality, and women’s agency within marriage in the cultural and religious context of the community. Additionally, she will also do in-depth interviews with early-married women to explore their perspectives on their marital experiences, self-agency within their marriage, marriage quality, and satisfaction. Results will contribute to a more diverse conceptual understanding of the early marriage experience in Indonesia. Additionally, they will inform programming (e.g., vocational training, leadership, and civic engagement) to provide more accessible and inclusive resources for early-married women to navigate marriage and enhance self-agency in order to minimize the adverse outcomes of early marriage. 
Dewi Kartikawatiningsih
Social Welfare School of Social Welfare University at Albany, SUNY, New York In my dissertation, I will use a qualitative study to understand the barriers that young adults face and to explore treatment providers perspectives on treatment retention among those who experience drug and substance use. In Indonesia, many drug use disorders continue to experience limited access to treatment and failure to complete treatment. Unfortunately, there have been a few studies exploring reasons for disruptions and incompletion of treatment. My study will involve extensive field work at one of Indonesia’s few drug treatment residential rehabilitation centers. 
Himawan Winarto Plasma Physics Princeton University Hima's studies focus on the numerical modeling of fundamental processes in plasma physics, the state of matter that expansively fill our universe. His studies have utilized highly parallelized High-Performance Computing (HPC) codes capable of running concurrently with several thousands of CPUs. In contrast to the now prevalent large-scale computational efforts through Machine Learning or Artificial Intelligence, which rely on interpolation or extrapolation, first-principle HPC simulations produce fiducial results at the cost of increased complexities and highly technical low-level coding. With this travel grant, Hima will work alongside Badan Riset dan Inovasi Nasional (BRIN) to organize a workshop covering relevant topics for HPC in order to transfer knowledge to Indonesian researchers. 
Iqbal Azhar
Linguistics and Applied Linguistics Arizona State University Iqbal's project focuses on language planning challenges in Indonesia, particularly the ongoing struggles in developing a standardized writing system for Madurese language. His study aims to understand Madurese orthographic debates and support the development of a standardized orthography for Madurese. It also aims to identify the most effective methods for collaboration among these stakeholders to standardize the Madurese orthography 
Mutiara Syifa
STEM Education The Ohio State University Mutiara Syifa, a doctoral candidate in STEM Education, Department of Teaching and Learning at The Ohio State University. Mutia is a former science and physics teacher in middle school and high school in Indonesia and currently conducting a comparative case study research for science teacher education in Indonesia and the US. She focuses on supporting pre-service science teachers to provide an equitable and inclusive science classroom through video-based analysis and reflection of their teaching practices. 
Ratna Ariyanti
Journalism Ohio University Ratna's experience working as a full-time journalist before she expanded her path into academia has made her learn that it is more challenging for individual journalists to have an impact on their own, including maintaining good journalism. Only by increasing collaboration between journalists, newsrooms and other actors in the field of news and information can journalists as a collective inform members of society adequately. To better understand collaborative journalism, especially in the region of South East Asia, Ratna will explore factors that contribute to both the success and failure of collaboration projects among newsrooms in Indonesia and cross-border partnerships with other news outlets in Malaysia and the Philippines. |
Silvia Landa
Environmental Science and Engineering University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill While global mortality linked to inadequate water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) services has declined, this issue persists as a significant health burden, particularly among children in Lower-Middle Income Countries. Silvia, having grown up and built her career in Nusa Tenggara Timur Province, a region in Indonesia with lower WASH access, is resolute in accelerating WASH provisions through strategic partnerships with the government. Her research critically examines the determinants that influence government decisions toward advancing WASH provisions in Lower-Middle Income Countries. A crucial component of her dissertation is devoted to exploring the factors that influence local government decisions to implement water utility-related policies in Indonesia. Silvia's research will enrich the understanding of multi-level governance theory and deliver valuable insights for policy advocates in the WASH sector, aiding in influencing transformative policy changes within the water utility sector in Indonesia. |
Teraya Paramehta
American Studies and Ethnicity University of Southern California Teraya's dissertation, tentatively titled (Re)Making Paradise: Race, Tourism, and the Aftermath of Violence in Bali, explores the production and construction of how Bali became paradise and how activists' and residents' responses to violence in Bali (e.g., the anti-communist mass killings of 1965-1966, the terrorist attacks of 2002 and 2005, and environmental injustice) disrupted and remade the imagined paradise. Reworking the idea of "entanglement" as a metaphor for transpacific lives, the dissertation suggests that "entanglement" becomes more permanent after violent rupture occurs. Yet, there are moments of looseness before the seemingly harmonious threads are forcefully pulled into a knot, suffocating those entangled in the threads. Bridging the anthropology of tourism and (post/de)colonial theories in Transpacific Studies and Ethnic Studies, the dissertation adds to a growing conversation on tourism and violence in American and Transpacific Studies, from which Bali/Indonesia is mainly absent. An AICEF Travel Grant will fund the second phase of the project's ethnographic fieldwork in Bali. |