Student Spotlight: Andini Desita Ekaputri

Our first student spotlight of Summer 2023 is Andini Desita Ekaputri (Sita), a Ph.D. Student in Natural Resources and Environmental Management Program, University of Hawai’i at Mānoa. Read Andini’s story here:

Background and Research Interests 

I’m a doctoral student in the Department of National Resources and Environment Management. I’m from Indonesia and now, I live in Honolulu with my husband and two amazing sons and work as a graduate assistant at University of Hawaii at Manoa. My interests include the interrelationship between people, forest/environment, and development activities. My dissertation focuses on evaluating socio-economic impacts of global voluntary governance: palm oil sustainability certification in Indonesia.

I am driven to understand how global initiatives on environmental or supply chain governance may affect local communities, especially in rural areas. When it comes to global environmental issues, Indonesia has always been placed in the spotlight. In the media, issues around climate change, deforestation and agricultural commodities expansion have been associated with Indonesia, including the global initiatives to address them. Yet, a systematic evaluation that analyzes the effects of these initiatives at the community level remained unclear. It is critical to have a deeper understanding on how these initiatives affect local people as they live in and around forest and/or plantations and their livelihood may depend on these resources. These people are my people and that’s what drives me to learn and pursue a higher degree. I want to learn more about their thoughts, their feelings and how we can find mutual benefits for the environment as well as for the people.

Fun-Fact:

I am a mom of two boys (sometimes three if you include my husband!) and I (surprisingly) love being in the kitchen. My favorite dishes to make are spring rolls, beef curry and any kind of pasta. I also love doing yoga, walking and hiking (which I miss a lot nowadays!)

Life outside of school?I also have a son in the autism spectrum. So I tried to fit some time in my days to read about autism and behavior analysis. I also share information about autism to my circle of family and friends to increase their awareness so we can build higher acceptance towards people with special needs.

Learn more about Andini on Carlson lab website [new window]