From tracking the amount of rain in their backyards to monitoring the water quality in local streams, citizen scientists have collected data for as long as there has been curiosity. And, it turns out, their data can be just as valid as that collected by professionals. Kelly Albus, a research scientist at the University of North Texas, spent four years as a Ph.D. student sifting through decades of data collected by citizen science groups and comparing it to that collected by professional agencies. The goal of her project was to determine if the citizen scientist data reached a level of accuracy that can be utilized by professionals. The answer, she found, is yes.