Surfactant EOR represents one of the most promising advanced methods to recover a substantial proportion of this 377 billion barrel target. In this technology, an aqueous surfactant formulation is injected into a mature oil reservoir. Where this solution contacts the small blobs of oil trapped in the pores of the reservoir rock, it dramatically reduces the interfacial tension (IFT) and mobilizes this trapped oil. The Department of Energy has sponsored two projects at the California Institute of Technology to design new surfactant systems to make this process commercially attractive. A key to identifying superior, novel surfactants for this application has been using our unique technology to predict IFT performance. A third, related project sponsored by DOE is to employ advanced biotechnology methods to increase the production of bio-surfactants from selected strains of bacteria. Initially we seek to improve the efficiency of bio-production of EOR surfactants as a manufacturing process; later in the project we will implant this more efficient bio-process ability into bacteria already adapted to the subsurface oil field environment.