In 2011, while a doctoral student at Emory University, she received a Dissertation Fieldwork Grant to aid research on "Shaping Muslim Subjectivities: Gender, Piety, and Modernity in Indonesian Islamic Boarding Schools,"supervised by Dr. Michael Gates Peletz. In 2016 Dr. Hefner received an Engaged Anthropology Grant to aid engaged activities on "Women, Piety, and Achievement: Dissemination of Research Findings in Indonesian Islamic Boarding Schools for Girls" Read the full blog post here.