Curriculum Vitae
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Education
Ph.D. in Cellular & Molecular Biology, Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières (UQTR), Canada — September 2023 Dissertation: A Quantitative Genetic Study of Life-History Trait Evolution in Preindustrial French-Canadian Populations Advisor: Dr. Emmanuel Milot
M.S. in Cellular & Molecular Biology, Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières — December 2017 Accepted into the Ph.D. program through the fast-track option
M1 in Integrative Biology, Université François-Rabelais, France — 2015 Specialization: Behavioral Ecology, Evolution
B.S. in Life Sciences, Lebanese University – Faculty of Sciences II, Lebanon — August 2014 Specialization: Ecology and Biodiversity
Academic Appointments
Postdoctoral Scholar, Department of Human Genetics, University of Chicago — 2023–Present Advisor: Dr. Jeremy Berg
Postdoctoral Research Associate, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Arizona — 2021–2023 Advisor: Dr. Joanna Masel
Research Experience
University of Chicago — Postdoctoral Scholar, 2023–present
- Characterize the limitations of principal component analysis (PCA) in mitigating population stratification in large-scale genetic association studies across massive biobanks and meta-analyses.
- Formulate analytical frameworks using moment equations and allele frequency spectra to evaluate linked selection, stabilizing selection, and disease-variant evolution.
- Evaluate empirical bias in polygenic score (PGS) selection tests and GWAS summary statistics arising from residual ancestry stratification within ancestry-diverse panels.
- Assess the role of linked selection in shaping genetic diversity patterns in mammalian species, using empirical measurements from monitored wild populations while accounting for recombination and functional target sizes from genomic data.
University of Arizona — Postdoctoral Research Associate, 2021–2023
- Evaluated an analytical model of how a shortage of beneficial mutations determines the long-term evolutionary dynamics of small populations.
- Developed C-based forward-time simulators and HPC pipelines to track long-term mutational dynamics and fitness trajectories across a finite genome with recombination and linkage blocks.
- Quantified the impacts of mutational load and weak epistasis on long-term population fitness under equilibrium dynamics.
Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières — Graduate Research Assistant, 2016–2021
- Processed and analyzed massive retrospective human genealogies comprising millions of individual records to model the long-term inheritance of complex phenotypic traits.
- Applied linear mixed-effects models and variance partitioning to isolate additive genetic variance from complex environmental variation in longitudinal human cohorts.
- Assessed the sensitivity of quantitative genetic parameter estimates to variability in pedigree quality and model specification.
Publications
Peer-Reviewed & Accepted
Mawass, W., and Milot, E. (2025). "Assessing the impact of pedigree attributes on the validity of quantitative genetic parameter estimates." Journal of Evolutionary Biology, 38(4), 439–456.
Mawass, W., Mayer, F. M., and Milot, E. (2022). "Genotype-by-environment interactions modulate the rate of microevolution in reproductive timing in humans." Evolution, 76(7), 1391–1405.
Mawass, W., Hernández, U., Matheson, J., Berg, J. J., and Masel, J. (2026). "Extinction vortices are driven more by a shortage of beneficial mutations than by deleterious mutation accumulation." Proceedings of the Royal Society B, 293(2072), 20260600.
Preprints (Under Review)
Mawass, W., and Milot, E. (2025). "Contrasting evolutionary outcomes in a human life history trait which is heritable and under consistent unbiased directional selection." bioRxiv, 2025.10.13.682154.
Blanc, J., Mawass, W., and Berg, J. J. (2025). "Quantifying the susceptibility of polygenic scores to ancestry stratification." bioRxiv, 2025.12.04.692430.
Hernández, U., Mawass, W., Matheson, J., and Masel, J. (2026). "Rare variants drive high variance in human ancestral fitness at mutation-selection-drift balance." bioRxiv, 2026.07.29.741368.
Manuscripts in Preparation
Mawass, W. — In preparation — advanced manuscript available upon request
Mawass, W., Blanc, J., Sherif, A., and Berg, J. J. — In preparation — advanced manuscript available upon request
Marcelle, M., Hernández, U., Mawass, W., Gutenkunst, R., and Masel, J. — In preparation
Rial, K., Mawass, W., and Berg, J. J. — In preparation
Zhou, S., Mawass, W., Hayward, L., and Berg, J. J. — In preparation
Presentations
Selected Oral Presentations
- Society for Modeling and Theory in Population Biology (SMTPB), NITMB — 2025
- Mid-West Population Genetics Conference — 2024
- University of Chicago BSD Postdoctoral Symposium — 2024
- Arizona Postdoctoral Research Conference — 2023
- Evolution Conference — 2021, 2022, 2023, 2025
- Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution (SMBE) — 2021
- SQEBC — 2018
- American Genetic Association (AGA) President's Symposium — 2018, 2020
Selected Poster Presentations
- Mid-West Population Genetics Conference — 2025, 2026
- Evolution Conference — 2025
- ProbGen — 2025, 2026
- PEQG — 2022, 2026
- Journées Généalogie et Génétique — 2017, 2019
- Sixth EvoDemoSoc Annual Meeting — 2019
- SQEBC — 2017
Teaching Experience
Co-Lead Instructor, graduate seminar, University of Arizona, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, 2021
Co-designed the syllabus and led weekly discussion-based seminars on foundational and contemporary population genetics literature, spanning the theoretical and the empirical. 2021–2023.
Preceptor, undergraduate and graduate course, University of Arizona, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, 2021
Taught upper-level undergraduate and graduate students mathematical modeling, computational simulation methods, and how to read and interrogate scientific literature, working in R, Python, and Mathematica. Spring 2021.
Guest Lecturer, Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières, 2019
Delivered interactive lectures to undergraduate biology majors on quantitative trait inheritance, gene-environment interactions, and variance partitioning approaches. Spring 2019.
Student Mentorship & Advising
Direct Student Research Mentorship
- Undergraduate Computer Science Researcher (University of Arizona, Summer 2022) — Mentored an undergraduate student in translating theoretical population genetics (Wright–Fisher vs. Moran processes, effective population size) into C-based forward-time simulation algorithms.
- STAR Lab Research Mentor (University of Arizona, 2022–2023) — Guided undergraduate trainees through hands-on biology projects, from hypothesis generation and literature search to experimental design and implementation.
- UChicago Computational Biology Outreach (COMBO) Mentor (2024) — Mentored high school students from underrepresented backgrounds in Python programming, statistical genetics fundamentals, and data analysis.
- UChicago Berg Lab (2026) — Mentored a research trainee with a mathematics background on a method development project, engaging weekly with papers, presentations, and technical problems.
Academic Advising & Evaluation
- Grand Award Judge, SARSEF Regional Science and Engineering Fair (2023) — Evaluated high school and middle school research projects in biology and data science.
- Evaluator, Master’s & Doctoral Poster Competitions (UQTR, 2019) — Reviewed and scored graduate research presentations, providing structured feedback on scientific rigor and delivery.
- Student Representative, Executive Committee for Cellular & Molecular Biology (UQTR, 2019–2021) — Contributed to program reforms and to the development of curriculum courses and their frameworks.
Scholarships & Awards
- University of Chicago BSD CAP Travel Award
- Excellence Award, CPCS-BCM
- 1st Prize, Departmental Poster Competition
Leadership, Service & Outreach
Leadership
- Co-Chair, Community and Membership Engagement (CME), GSA Early Career Leadership Program — 2023–2025
- Postdoc Member, EEB Committee for Community, Anti-Racism, and Equity (CARE), University of Arizona — 2022–2023
- VP for Scientific Affairs, Executive Committee, AEBCM student association, UQTR — 2018–2021
Conference Organization
- WAMBAM — 2017
- Journées Généalogie et Génétique — 2017
- SQEBC — 2018
- MidWest Population Genetics Symposium — 2026
Outreach and Service
- GSA ECLP alumni mentorship program — 2025
- Grand Award Judge, SARSEF Fair — 2023
- STAR Lab research mentor — 2022–2023
- Session chair and moderator, Evolution Conference — 2021
- UQTR outreach program — 2019
- Instructor, local scientific outreach program, Lebanon — 2013
Computer & Statistical Skills
- Programming Languages: Python (NumPy, SciPy, pandas, scikit-learn), R, SQL, C, Unix Shell, Wolfram/Mathematica
- Methodologies: Genome-Wide Association Studies (GWAS), polygenic score (PGS) evaluation, random matrix theory, mixed-effects and multilevel modeling, population stratification correction, high-dimensional variance partitioning
- Modeling & Simulation: SLiM, msprime, tree-sequence recording with
tskit, custom forward-time simulators in C - Environments & Workflows: High-Performance Computing (HPC), Snakemake, Git/GitHub, RStudio, Jupyter
- Writing & Typesetting: LaTeX, Markdown, HTML
Scholarly Memberships
- American Society of Human Genetics (ASHG)
- Genetics Society of America (GSA)
- Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution (SMBE)
- Society for the Study of Evolution (SSE)
- Society for Modeling and Theory in Population Biology (SMTPB)
- American Genetic Association (AGA)
- National Postdoctoral Association
Languages
- Arabic — native
- French — native
- English — full professional proficiency
