Partner with MetroBridge

MetroBridge embeds real-world projects for municipalities and community organizations into courses at BU, enlisting our students and faculty as allies in addressing urban issues. MetroBridge cultivates projects by seeking out the distinct research needs of cities, towns and community-based organizations and collaborating with faculty across the university to find the best course match for each project. We view our approach as a win-win solution as it provides tailored research support to under-resourced communities, while simultaneously providing real-world learning experiences to students from various disciplines to prepare them for their future careers.

The MetroBridge team assists with project scoping and development, handles the matching of courses for each project, and ensures effective communication between BU and project liaisons. At the end of each semester, students present their work and the MetroBridge team oversees the development of final deliverables.

Municipalities and community-based organizations can learn more and submit project proposals using the form below.

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

Shortcuts

Submit a Project Proposal

We invite local governments and community-based organizations to submit project ideas for upcoming semesters. You can view a selection of recent MetroBridge projects below. 

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

Submit a Project Idea

Project Timeline

The MetroBridge program operates on the academic semester cycle. Each semester is 14 weeks long.

The Fall Semester runs from September until December break. A student-led presentation is typically held in December, with final deliverables completed in January.

The Spring Semester runs from late January until early May. A student-led presentation is typically held in April or May, with final deliverables completed in June.

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). This may include:

  • Planning and check-in meetings/calls with MetroBridge program team and faculty
  • Visiting the class on campus at the beginning of the semester to provide an overview of the project and the city/town
  • Hosting a student site visit (if desired) and coordinating meetings with key local government staff and community partners
  • Providing information such as existing reports, plans, or data related to the project and meeting minutes with pertinent agenda items.

The MetroBridge team assists with project scoping, arranges meetings between students and community partners, and ensures effective communication between BU and project liaisons. At the end of the semester, students present their work directly to partnering local governments and or community organizations, and the MetroBridge team oversees the development of final deliverables.

Recent MetroBridge Projects

Stay in Touch / Contact Us

To receive email updates from MetroBridge regarding calls for project ideas and faculty course matching, please click here to sign-up to our email list. In addition to signing-up — or if you have any questions — please reach out to our Program Manager directly:

David Gross, MetroBridge Program Manager
davgross@bu.edu