MIPSE Mug - Plasma Image Contest 2025
In summer 2025, MIPSE produced the 4th rendition of the (famous!) MIPSE mug. The MIPSE mug has traditionally been emblazoned with the MIPSE logo. For the new MIPSE mug, we added a plasma image printed alongside the MIPSE logo. MIPSE students and postdocs were invited to be part of a contest to provide the plasma image. We received five excellent and creative image submissions (please see below), and we would like to thank contest participants for their efforts: Chenyao Huang, Julian Kinney, Ryan Revolinsky, Joe Chen, and Landon Tafoya.
All MIPSE faculty, staff, postdocs, and students were invited to vote for the best image. The winner is Landon Tafoya who submitted a beautiful image of an extended MHD simulation of a wire-array Z-pinch implosion supporting experiments on the MAIZE pulsed power driver at UM. According to the contest rules, the winner received his own MIPSE mug. Congratulations, Landon!
Contest Submissions
Voting is now closed.| Entry # | Image | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |  |
My research primarily involves plasma etching. My design is a symbolic representation of the plasma reactor chamber. The bulk plasma is depicted as being slightly positive, while the chamber surfaces in contact with it are shown as slightly negative. The overall style of my design is minimalistic, in line with flat-design principles. |
| 2 |  |
I plotted charged particle trajectories from a 3D molecular dynamics simulation and projected them onto a 2D plane. |
| 3 |  |
This image is a snapshot of a particle-in-cell simulation of ~1MV Radial MILT-MILO crossed-field devices that generates a broad frequency spectrum with ~100s of MW to multi-GWs of output RF microwave power (depending on extraction) for use in directed energy applications (radar, ECRH/ICRH, defense, etc.). |
| 4 |  |
The title of this piece is “Fall of Icarus”. The image captures a z-pinch implosion in action. As the core collapses, a forceful ejection propels plasma through a mesh grid creating a distinct plasma cloud overhead. Interestingly, there is a falling target descending into the center of the event generating bow shocks. |
| 5 |  |
The image is of an extended MHD simulation of a wire-array Z-pinch implosion supporting experiments on the MAIZE pulsed power driver at UM. |
Contest Rules
- The image should be a result of your own plasma research (experimental, computational, theoretical).
- The topic can be any aspect of plasma science and engineering.
- Please submit images resulting from your own work and not an AI-generated image.
- Each contest participant may submit one image.
- The image should fit into a square, ideally with 1000 x 1000 pixel resolution.
- The file size should not exceed 10 MB (preferred formats are tif with LZW compression and jpg with the minimum amount of compression that fits into 10 MB).
- The image should not contain text.
- The image is intended to be printed on a 15 oz white ceramic mug alongside the MIPSE logo (please see attached template and the logo) so a compatible color scheme would be best.
- By submitting the image, you are also providing us permission to use the image.