Dr. Hazzouri earned his Ph.D. in evolutionary genomics from the University of Toronto in 2012. In his doctoral research, he worked on mating system evolution in flowering plants (Capsella and Collinsia) and their genomic consequences. He joined as a senior research scientist at the Purugganan laboratory at New York University Abu Dhabi (NYUAD), working mainly on the genomic diversity and origin of the perennial Date palm fruit tree as well as mining genetic variants in the green algae Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. In 2017, he joined the Khalifa Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology as a Research Assistant Professor, and his research interests mainly focus on understanding species diversity, including natural variation within species and how species evolve and adapt to various environments. In addition, he is interested in natural variations, which can provide important insights into the importance of functional variation for crop breeding.