  MECO will search for direct evidence of muon and electron flavor violation in
the decay of muons in Coulomb bound states via coherent recoil of the nucleus
and decay electron. The expected sensitivity to the $\mu^{-} {\rm N} \to e^{-}
+ {\rm N}$ branching fraction relative to muon capture $\mu^{-} {\rm N}(A,Z)
\to \nu_{\mu} + {\rm N}(A,Z-1)$ is $R_{\mu e} < 5\times 10^{-17}$ at 90%
confidence level, roughly three to four orders of magnitude lower than current
limits. This article provides an overview of the experiment.
