Employee Spotlight: Jesse Batsche

Jesse Batsche, Systems Engineer

What do you like best about working at DMC?

The people.  I know this is what everybody says, but that’s because it’s true.  Everybody is an expert, the top in their field and you can learn so much quickly by just talking to your coworkers.  Everyone at DMC is fun to work with and motivated.  It’s great to work somewhere with a great variety of projects where you are never bored because you are always solving challenges and learning new things.
 
What is the most interesting project you have worked on at DMC?

Building a series of fully automated test systems for large scale lithium ion battery packs being designed for fully electric vehicles.  We’ve been able to utilize a lot of really cool high end hardware to perform extremely detailed and extensive testing exactly how the customer specified.  The other great part of the project is that it’s been fascinating to support the development of a brand new technology by running tests and solving problems that have never really been solved before.
 
What do you like to do outside of work?

I have a plethora of active hobbies like running, volleyball, tennis, Frisbee, racquetball, skiing, and snowboarding.  My favorite place to ski is definitely Whistler.  I am a big Notre Dame fan, whether it’s football, basketball, or anything else.  I enjoy playing piano when I have the opportunity, whether new age classical stuff or modern songs I hear on the radio and then learn to play.  I also like following finance and investment.
 
Any stock tips?
Chipotle Mexican Grill is one of my favorite stocks.  It has probably my most successful pick thus far.  And I like their burritos.
 
I know you like to travel; what are your top three destinations in Europe?
I enjoyed a couple months of backpacking around Europe after graduation.  I really enjoyed all of the adventure activities in Interlaken, Switzerland.  I got to go hang-gliding in the Alps and canyoning (jumping off waterfalls and sliding down natural waterslide-like chutes in a river flowing down the side of a mountain).  Munich was a cool city to visit, with great beer gardens of course.  I would say my third top spot is Barcelona for its beaches, food, and architecture.
 
What are your favorite spots in Chicago?

My favorite bar is The Duke of Perth on Clark St. which is a British pub-style bar that has a great beer list, fire places for the winter, and an outdoor patio for the summer.  My favorite hangout spot in Chicago is the North Ave. Beach.  I love heading there in the summer with friends to swim, hangout, and play volleyball.  Also, I can never get enough of Whirlyball.
 
Tell me about the patent you co-authored.

The patent is for a vision-based robotic control system, which was my Masters thesis project in grad school.  It generates a 3-D profile of any objects in front of a robotic arm so that the robot can act upon those objects as desired.
 
What is your favorite programming language?

LabVIEW

That was an immediate response.

I really like the graphical interface of LabVIEW.  I am a visual person, and it helps to be able to imagine aspects of a project as they will look in LabVIEW as I am planning them.  Programming in LabVIEW just coincides really well with the way my mind works.  Over the past few months I’ve become especially enthusiastic about learning the full extent of LabVIEW’s capabilities, even beyond the features we’ve been actively utilizing for projects.
 
Do you have any engineering hobbies?

I’ve built quite a few remote control vehicles in my day including gas and electric road cars, dirt/off road cars, a plane, a helicopter, and a custom designed hover craft.  I enjoy applying my mechanical engineering background to home improvement jobs or other mini projects.  For example, I recently built an enclosed display case to hold my collection of shot glasses from everywhere I have traveled.  Sometimes I like to approach cooking as a science using an arsenal of kitchen gadgets.
 
What are your specialties?

Various stir frys, mashed potatoes, soft pretzels, and my custom black bean and corn salsa.
 
Are you willing to share that recipe or is it secret?

 Ingredients

• 1 can whole kernel corn, drained
• 1 can black beans, drained
• 1 red (or orange or yellow) bell pepper, diced
• 1-2 tomatoes, diced
• 1 small red onion, diced
• 1 avocado (not very ripe) sliced up
• 1/4 cup fresh Cilantro, chopped

Dressing

• 1/4 Cup vegetable oil
• 1 tsp corn starch
• 1-2 tsp Tabasco sauce
• 1tbsp Lemon Juice
• 1 tbsp Lime Juice
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 tbsp white vinegar
• 1 tsp Ground Cumin
• Salt and pepper to taste

Preparation

• Mix all the vegetables (except avocado)
• Mix dressing ingredients together
• Toss vegetables with dressing to coat thoroughly
• Add the avocado and mix lightly (don't mush up the avocado too much)
• Refrigerate and allow to set for at least 2 hrs