Greater Boston Applied Field Lab: Advanced Budgeting, Financial Management and Operations

MLD 412M Subject & Catalog Number

Description

MLD-412 is an experiential-learning lab that will enable students to work on financial and operational challenges with real-world clients. The coursework will focus on specific problems in local government, which may relate to infrastructure, financing, budgeting, and operations in local municipalities. The course is affiliated with the Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston, the Taubman Center for State and Local Government and the Harvard-Bloomberg Cities Initiative. Client partners are being finalized but will likely include cities and towns in the Greater Boston area and in the Northeast region (New England states, possibly including Portland, Maine), and the MA Clean Air Task Force. Course work includes training in advanced relevant analytical skills, such as GIS mapping and financial spreadsheet modelling. Extensive field work is required, including multiple visits to client sites. Students who complete the course may be eligible for paid summer follow-on work in the field, or conducting research on the relevant datasets for publications. This course requires permission of the instructor. Please complete application at: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdfaV8ouf7-ykA4nEkjOe5tIxOIPfGuPvY5_Q8OEV9_864foQ/viewform.

Due to strong interest in the course, we encourage students to submit their application as early as possible. Applications will be accepted until 11:59 p.m. on Friday, February 27, 2026.

Course Notes

Prerequisites: This course requires permission of the instructor. Students must have basic analytical skills in budget/finance/accounting and/or urban planning (demonstrated through course work such as MLD-411, MLD-601, API-141 or similar, and/or being in the GSD, Urban Planning or MBA program), or other relevant kinds of experience.