"One of the key purposes of the grant was to make this research public, " says Rebecca Freeman, a 26-year-old doctoral student in the Department of Geography and Environmental Engineering.

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However, largely because of the unscientific policies of the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Environmental Protection Agency, plant genetic engineering has realized only a small fraction of its potential.

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Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Civil and Environmental Engineering department looked at the 40 largest U.S. airports and figured out which ones would be the most likely to spread a disease in the event of an outbreak in the cities they serve.

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The department, in its recent environmental review of Keystone XL, determined that the engineering plan was sound, and noted that the oil sands will be developed with or without the pipeline.

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Fu juggles the intense responsibility of working at a VC firm with a more than full course load in the civil and environmental engineering department.

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