Mohamad Al Abbas
Education
- PhD in Demography, University of Pennsylvania, Expected May 2028
- MA in International Affairs, Lebanese American University, May 2023
- BE in Electrical Engineering, Lebanese American University, August 2019
Experience
- Teaching Assistant, University of Pennsylvania – Graduate School of Education (2025–present)
- Lead lab sessions on STATA for Principles of Monitoring and Evaluation, a graduate-level course
- Research Assistant, University of Pennsylvania – PIRE Project (2023–present)
- NSF-funded project on environmental degradation and child development
- Paper: Born in a Haze (forest fires & health outcomes in Indonesia)
- Statistical Consultant, Department of Sociology, University of Pennsylvania (2023–present)
- Support PhD students in Sociology and Demography
- Conduct workshops on machine learning techniques
- Research Intern, UNDP Office of Audit & Investigations (2022–2023)
- Drafted investigation plans, reports, and conducted interviews
- Research Intern, Center for International Policy – Technology Policy Program (2022–2023)
- Designed Social Media Harms tracker
- Authored briefs and attended U.S. legislative hearings
- Research Assistant – Individual Contractor, UN ESCWA (2022)
- Built/improved social demographic database (29% → 83% completion)
- Monitoring & Evaluation Officer, LAU – Graduate Studies & Research (2019–2021)
- Graduate Teaching Assistant, LAU – Electrical & Computer Engineering (2019–2021)
Fellowships & Awards
- Benjamin Franklin Fellowship, University of Pennsylvania (2024–2028)
- Dean’s Fellowship, University of Pennsylvania (2023–2024)
- MEPI – Tomorrow’s Leaders Graduate Fellowship, LAU (2021–2023)
- Outstanding Researcher Award, LAU (2021)
- Best Presentation Award, ICIET Japan (2022)
Skills
- Programming: R, Python, Stata, Java, Assembly
- Machine Learning: NLP, RL, Neural Networks (CNN & RNN), Decision Trees
- Software: Tableau, MATLAB, SPSS, LaTeX
- Languages: English (Bilingual), Arabic (Native)