November 5, 2025
“Foam in Bloom”, by UW mechanical engineering graduate students Santhosh Sridhar (Microcellular Plastics Lab), Ankush Nandi (Vashisth Research Lab), and Shaunak Deshpande (Meza Research Group) was named the Most Stunning image in the 2025 Plenty of Beauty at the Bottom image contest hosted by the National Nanotechnology Coordinated Infrastructure (NNCI). 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.
The researchers used a scanning electron microscope (SEM) at the UW Molecular Analysis Facility (MAF) to capture this micrograph of vitrimer-based foams. Vitrimers are a class of polymers that offer a unique combination of the structural integrity of heat-hardened plastics with the ability to be healed, reshaped, and recycled.