A graduate student intern in Nanomaterials Sciences at Sandia, prepares a sample for mixing using a new approach called vortex field mixing. The new mixing method subjects a suspension of microscopic, magnetizable particles to a magnetic field whose direction is constantly spinning in a motion similar to a spinning top as it is about to collapse on its side, but much faster. In this ?vortex field? the particles assemble into countless microscopic chains that follow the field motion, stirring every nook and cranny of the fluid.