Keystone Project FAQs

Keystone Projects vary by discipline. Projects can range from musical compositions to iPhone apps to theses. Because Kilachand students follow dozens of major pathways it would be impossible for us to impose a one-size-fits all requirement. We rely on your Keystone Project Advisor to determine whether your Keystone Project is appropriate for your discipline. If they’re happy with your deliverable, so are we. You can find examples of Keystone Projects here.

Your Keystone Project Advisor should be a full-time faculty member at Boston University. This means that your Project Advisor should be someone hired by Boston University into a recurring position for teaching and/or research purposes. You’ll see that faculty have many titles, from lecturers to chairs. We are not concerned with hierarchy, we are concerned with stability. Our aim is to ensure that the person you are working with will remain at the University for the duration of your project. For this reason, people in visiting, post-doctoral, and adjunct positions are not eligible to serve as a Keystone Project Advisor. However, this doesn’t mean that you aren’t able to consult with folks from across the University regardless of position or title.

All Kilachand students are eligible to apply for up to $2,000 in Keystone funding per project. You may submit a budget request for consideration to the Keystone Committee with your Project Statement. You may re-submit an updated budget application at any point. Please do not purchase any items for which you have not received explicit approval, as we cannot guarantee approval before full review.

Before submitting, please carefully review the budget guidelines here.

For students following the Kilachand Keystone Pathway, your Keystone Project Advisor will grade your work in KHC HC 503 and KHC HC 504. For students following other pathways, your instructor in the equivalent courses will grade your work as they will for all other students pursuing those opportunities in your home school or college.

You should submit your Keystone Project to your Keystone Project Advisor. They will be reviewing and grading your work.

All Kilachand students submit materials prior to presenting at the Keystone Symposium, including a non-technical abstract. The Symposium Planning Committee will send the deadlines for these items by e-mail, and your HC 502/512/522 class will guide you through Symposium preparations.

In addition to the project itself, which will vary by discipline and be submitted to the Keystone Project Advisor, all Kilachand students must follow the requirements detailed here.

That happens! Maybe your research took you in a different direction or you realized that your original intentions were a bit ambitious for such a busy time. We trust your Keystone Project Advisors to determine what is appropriate and acceptable in collaboration with you. Of course, we’re happy to help if you have any questions as you pivot.

If you are interested in changing your topic completely, changing your project advisor, or changing your Keystone Pathway, you will need to resubmit the Keystone Project Information Form. Please don’t hesitate to be in touch with the Keystone team at keystone@bu.edu.