Municipalities and community-based organizations can learn how to partner with MetroBridge below. To join our mailing list and receive requests for proposals via email, click here.

BU Faculty interested in teaching a MetroBridge course should contact David Gross, MetroBridge Program Manager, at davgross@bu.edu.

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Overview

MetroBridge embeds the research questions and needs of municipalities and community organizations into existing courses at BU, enlisting our students and faculty as allies in addressing urban issues. We collaborate with partners to identify the research gaps where our students are best positioned to make a meaningful impact, and then work with our faculty to develop projects that yield mutually beneficial outcomes for both our students and external partners. Projects may include case studies, literature reviews, qualitative or quantitative analyses, research design, program evaluation, and other types of research.

The MetroBridge team serves as a one-stop shop and point of contact for project partners, supporting the project from submission to completion. We assist with project scoping and development, matching courses for each project, providing project management support, and ensuring effective communication between Boston University and project liaisons. At the end of each semester, students present their work to the partner, and the MetroBridge team coordinates the development of final deliverables, which may include a report, a memo, slides, and/or other deliverables specific to the project.

View a selection of recent MetroBridge projects here.

Submit a Project Proposal

We invite local governments and community-based organizations to submit project proposals for upcoming semesters based on their research and project needs.

If you have multiple, distinct project proposals, we ask that you please submit separately for each request.

A member of our team will contact you after your submission. We strive to match each project idea with a suitable course; however, if we are unable to do so for the upcoming semester, your project proposal will also be considered for future semesters.

Submit a Project Proposal

Project Proposal Submission Deadlines

We accept project proposal submissions throughout the year on a rolling basis, and submissions are welcome at any time. However, during our recruitment periods we strongly recommend that prospective partners adhere to the project submission deadlines below. Submitting a project idea as soon as possible helps us find a more suitable course match for your research and project needs.

Spring 2026 Semester

We are currently still accepting project proposal submissions for the spring 2026 semester. Please contact our Program Manager and submit a project proposal as soon as possible if you are interested, particularly if you’re project idea falls under one of our Topics & Areas of Focus listed below. 

Submit a Project Proposal

Topics & Areas of Focus: Spring 2026

Check Out Past Projects

The MetroBridge program is university-wide, allowing us to leverage Boston University’s academic expertise across a wide range of topics to address the questions facing our government and community partners.

The following focus areas either (1) pertain to relevant courses taught by faculty interested in incorporating a MetroBridge project during the upcoming 2025-2026 academic year or (2) are MetroBridge priority areas of focus. Please note this list is updated throughout the year. If you have a project idea that does not fall under one of the below areas, we still encourage you to submit a proposal:

Please note we are currently still seeking projects in the following areas. Municipal and community partners with needs in these areas should contact our Program Manager and submit a project proposal as soon as possible.

  • Governance, planning, public administration, and strategy
    • Including:
      • Developing Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s)
      • Developing internal or external policy implementation plans
      • Developing internal or external policy follow-up plans
      • Analyzing root causes of issues faced by departments and public sector agencies
      • Process improvement
  • Spanish Language needs
    • Municipalities or community organizations seeking Spanish speakers in professional settings

If your project does not fall under one of the above areas, you are welcome to submit. However, we may need to consider your project for the fall 2026 semester. 

Please note that the above list is not a comprehensive list of possible project topics & focus areas. This may change as we continue to hold conversations with our faculty network.

Project Timeline

For project submission deadlines, please refer to Submit a Project Proposal.

  • The Fall Semester runs from September until December break. A student-led presentation is typically held in December, with final deliverables completed in December or January.
  • The Spring Semester runs from late January until late April or early May. A student-led presentation is typically held in April or May, with final deliverables completed in May.
  • In limited instances, projects span both semesters (Fall and Spring), lasting a total of nine months. These projects begin at the start of the fall semester (September) and conclude at the end of the spring semester (April or May). At this time, these projects are limited to mechanical engineering and city planning.

If a project is large in scope, we may collaborate with partners and faculty to divide it across multiple semesters. These may be taken in back-to-back semesters (e.g., Fall 2025 and Spring 2026) or consecutively over two years (e.g., Fall 2025 and Fall 2026).

Partner Requirements

Local governments and organizations serving as MetroBridge partners should be prepared to donate their time, in addition to sharing data and reports relevant to the project(s). However, we work to ensure the time commitment is not onerous by dedicating the time of one staff member at the IOC to facilitating these partnerships. Please note that the MetroBridge team is your main point of contact supporting the project from idea submission to project completion and project deliverables development, and acts as the liaison between Boston University and partners. Project partners may be expected to:

    • Attend planning and check-in meetings with MetroBridge program staff, faculty, and occasionally with students.
    • Visit the class on campus at the beginning of the semester to provide an overview of the project and the city or town, or host the students at a relevant space in your city or town or organization.
    • Attend the final presentation (depending on class time and partner location, this may be on campus or at the partner’s offices).
    • Host a student site visit (if applicable, depending on class time and partner location).
  • Coordinate meetings with key local government staff and community partners (if applicable; MetroBridge may also assist with such tasks).
  • Provide information such as existing reports, plans, or data related to the project, as well as meeting minutes with pertinent agenda items (if applicable).

Stay in Touch / Contact Us

If you have any questions about the program, want to learn more, or have research needs you’d like to discuss before submitting a proposal above, please reach out to our Program Manager, David Gross.

To receive email updates from MetroBridge regarding calls for project ideas and faculty course matching, please click here to sign up for our email list.