MORE THAN THREE HUNDRED PLANETS HAVE BEEN FOUND TO DATE AROUND OTHERS STARS LIKE THE SUN. THE VAST MAJORITY ARE GAS GIANTS LIKE JUPITER. THE PURSUIT OF PLANETS MORE LIKE THE EARTH HAS LED THE SEARCH TO M DWARF STARS MUCH LESS MASSIVE THAN THE SUN BECAUSE SMALLER PLANETS ARE MORE DETECTABLE AROUND SUCH STARS, AND THEY ARE MORE LIKELY TO ORBIT WITHIN A CIRCUMSTELLAR "HABITABLE ZONE". WE PROPOSE TO CARRY OUT A SEARCH FOR SHORT-PERIOD PLANETS AROUND A SET OF RECENTLY CATALOGED, NEARBY LATE K AND EARLY M DWARF STARS, BUILDING ON THE SUCCESS OF A SEARCH FOR "HOT" NEPTUNE-MASS PLANETS AROUND SOLAR-TYPE STARS. OUR NEW STRATEGY WILL COMBINE THE TWO PRINCIPAL SEARCH TECHNIQUES, DOPPLER RADIAL VELOCITY MEASUREMENTS AND TRANSIT DETECTION, TO EFFICIENTLY SEARCH FOR SHORT-PERIOD AND TRANSITING PLANETS. SUITABLE TARGET STARS WILL BE SURVEY WITH FOUR DOPPLER MEASUREMENTS TO IDENTIFY STARS WITH VARYING RADIAL VELOCITY AS CANDIDATE PLANETARY SYSTEMS AND SCREEN SPECTROSCOPIC BINARIES, AND THESE WILL BE IMMEDIATELY AND INTENSELY MONITORED BY PHOTOMETRIC OBSERVATIONS FOR TRANSITS. POTENTIAL TRANSITING SYSTEMS WILL BE FURTHER STUDIED WITH ADDITIONAL DOPPLER MEASUREMENTS AND PHOTOMETRY TO CONFIRM PLANETS. OUR PROPOSED PROGRAM WILL TRIPLE THE NUMBER OF LATE K AND EARLY M STARS PROBED FOR PLANETARY COMPANIONS AND (1) ESTABLISH A LOWER LIMIT FOR THE FRACTION OFM STARS THAT HAVE NEPTUNE-MASS PLANETS ON SHORT-PERIOD ORBITS; (2) IDENTIFY SEVERAL ADDITIONAL TRANSITING PLANETS TO POPULATE THE MASS-RADIUS DIAGRAM IN THIS RANGE; (3) PROVIDE TARGETS FOR FOLLOW-UP BY THE SPITZER, HUBBLE AND JAMES WEBB SPACE TELESCOPES, AND (4) GENERATE A CATALOG OF HIGH-PRIORITY CANDIDATES FOR FUTURE ULTRAHIGH-PRECISION DOPPLER SEARCHES USING NEW TECHNOLOGIES. IT WILL FURTHER THE GOALS OF THE NASA ORIGINS ASTROBIOLOGY ROADMAPS BY CONSTRAINING THEORIES OF PLANET FORMATION AND EVOLUTION AND IDENTIFYING NEW SYSTEMS IN WHICH EARTH-LIKE AND POTENTIALLY HABITABLE PLANETS MAY EXIST.