You've heard about "road rage." Now get used to the "platoon merge," a driving phenomenon recently identified by a University of Kansas graduate student, that has many drivers taking evasive actions on urban freeways.

Hanwen Yi, a KU doctoral student in civil engineering from Wuhan, Hubei province in China, developed a new video image processing and data analysis software system to identify merging behavior of drivers at key Interstate 35 on-ramps in the Kansas City metropolitan area. What he found was that several closely spaced vehicles using freeway on-ramps often force themselves into the first lane, causing other drivers to yield their right of way.

The merging vehicles - called a platoon merge - contribute to more congested traffic on these already high-volume, high-speed roadways.

The Department of Energy in December announced a $1 million, three-year research project award to Associate Professor of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering Jenn-Tai Liang at the University of Kansas.

The project will evaluate the use of low-cost biosurfactants produced from high-starch agriculture process waste to improve oil recovery in carbonate reservoirs. Specifically, Liang will examine the ability of biosurfactants to accelerate the speed with which water can displace petroleum from carbonate rock during waterflooding of an oil reservoir.

The successful completion of the project will not only increase domestic oil production by enabling recovery of previously stranded oil, but it also will benefit the environment by promoting the beneficial reuse of agriculture process waste products.

The research will be a joint effort between the Tertiary Oil Recovery Project at the University of Kansas, and the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory.

Two University of Kansas chemical engineering graduates have added to the program's string of success at the national level.

Seth Sheldon and Scott Roberts took first and second place, respectively, in the 2004 American Institute of Chemical Engineers annual student design contest. Both graduated with degrees in chemical engineering in May 2004.

KU students have won more honors in the AIChE individual design competition than students from any other school in the nation in the last 20 years. KU won first place in 2003, 2000, 1998, 1997, 1996, 1986 and 1985. KU students also won second- and third-place and honorable mention honors several times. Participating universities may submit projects from only two students.