Plenty of Beauty at the Bottom
The NNCI Image Contest 2025
In honor of National Nanotechnology Day, October 9th, the National Nanotechnology Coordinated Infrastructure (NNCI) is hosting our annual Plenty of Beauty at the Bottom image contest. Referencing Richard Feynman’s 1959 lecture, "There’s Plenty of Room at the Bottom," this image contest celebrates the beauty of the micro and nanoscale. Images featured in this contest are produced at one of the 16 NNCI sites during the past two years. Click on the categories below to see all of the images and learn about the research. Voting opened on September 23, 2025, at 6AM EST and closed on October 7, 2025, at 11:59 PM.
Most Stunning
Most Unique Capability
Most Whimsical
Sites from across the NNCI contributed stunning, unique, and whimsical images of the micro and nanoscale for the 2025 image contest. The public cast over 2,100 votes to determine this year’s winners. First place winning artists will receive a hoodie with their printed image, and their sites receive a framed print of their winning image. Honorable mentions will have their sites receive a framed print of their image. Congratulations to all our winners and thank you for participating!
Most Stunning Winner
Foam in Bloom
Artists: Santhosh Sridhar (Ph.D. Student, Microcellular Lab Plastics Lab, UW ME), Ankush Nandi (Ph.D. Student, Vashisth Research Lab, UW ME), and Shaunak Deshpande (MS Student, Meza Research Lab, UW ME)
NNCI Site: NNI
Tool: ThermoFisher Scientific Apreo-S SEM
Most Stunning - Honorable Mention
Alloy Garden
Artists: Anugrahaprada Mukundan (PhD student) and Mitsuhiro Murayama (Professor), Materials Science and Engineering Department, Virginia Tech
NNCI Site: NanoEarth
Tool: ThermoScientific Helios 5 UC Dual Beam
Most Unique Capability - Winner
Meteor Shower in a Nanoworld
Artist: Sadikshya Pandey, PhD student, Department of Chemical Engineering and Material Science, University of Minnesota
NNCI Site: MINIC
Tool: Thermo Apreo
Most Unique Capability - Honorable Mention
Lighting up the hidden life of wastewater bacteria
Artist: Kylie Bodle, postdoctoral researcher, Center for Biofilm Engineering, Montana State University
NNCI Site: MONT
Tool: Inverted Leica DMI8 Stellaris confocal laser scanning microscope
Most Whimsical - Winner
Nano - Au (Gold) Fish
Artist: Rishi Raj, PhD student, Department of Chemical Engineering and Material Science, University of Minnesota
NNCI Site: MINIC
Tool: ThermoFisher Talos F200X
Most Whimsical - Honorable Mention
Love Owl
Artist: Matthew Mulvehill, Graduate Research Assistant, Conn Center for Renewable Energy Research, University of Louisville
NNCI Site: KY Multiscale
Tool: Thermo Fisher Apreo C LoVac Field Emission Scanning Electron