Two LPL alumni, Marc Buie (1984) and John Keller (2006), are mustering citizen scientists in the western U.S. for project RECON: Research and Education Cooperative Occultation Network. The project has provided telescope equipment and training to 14 small communities north and south of Reno, Nevada, and hopes to eventually build a network stretching from Arizona to the Canadian border. RECON observers are hoping to observe Kuiper Belt objects as they pass in front of distant stars, which would provide data that could be used to determine the sizes of these icy objects in the outer Solar System. More information and links are available online here:

http://www.nsf.gov/news/special_reports/science_nation/recon.jsp