
Ari Fina Bintarti is originally from Rembang, Central Java. She is currently pursuing her PhD Program in Crop and Soil Sciences in the Department of Plant, Soil and Microbial Sciences, College of Agriculture and Natural Resources at Michigan State University. She is inspired to take that field of study because she wants to develop the sustainable agriculture in Indonesia through rhizosphere microbiome management. Her main interest is learning the rhizosphere microrganisms, how they work, and the mechanisms involved in the interaction between microbes and plants, especially their roles in promoting plant tolerance against drought stress. She hopes the technologies and data obtained from her PhD research would be a strong foundation in the future studies for developing rubber plantation in more sustainable ways. As a researcher, she has a responsibility and strong commitment to develop and introduce more friendly land management practices to local rubber farmers and private plantations.
Ari earned her bachelor’s degree in Biology at Bogor Agricultural University then she obtained her Master’s Degree in Microbiology at the same university. Prior to her Fulbright award, she is a researcher at Sembawa Research Center, Indonesian Rubber Research Institute (IRRI) in Palembang, South Sumatera.