Employee Spotlight: Dan Lawler

Dan Lawler, Systems Engineer

What is your favorite part about working at DMC?

DMC’s culture is awesome, period. One very cool aspect is that each new employee gets to choose a welcome party. It’s a great chance to socialize as a group, and each employee wants to host a unique party so there’s always a fun variety of events to enjoy.

What’s been your favorite project at DMC so far?

DMC has lots of experience working in different battery test applications. My favorite project has been helping design, build, and program a lithium-ion battery stack simulator. Most batteries contain some form of onboard ‘smarts’, often called a Battery Management System, or BMS. Our client was looking for a method to test their BMS to verify its diagnostics and to ensure that the battery management routines behave as expected in an array of situations that would be very difficult to simulate and recreate with real battery stacks. It was a fun and challenging mechanical, electrical, and software design project.

How did you first become interested in engineering?

I grew up on a beef cattle and crop farm in Minnesota and I guess that’s how I first got interested in engineering. Everything on the farm is hands-on. When something breaks we first try to fix it ourselves, and then there’s all the mechanical maintenance that goes along with upkeep of machinery. I also remember that engineering day in grade school was awesome. Some local engineers from IBM visited our classrooms annually and gave us fun programming tasks or challenges to build the highest or strongest structure from a bag of miscellaneous items.

Also, since I always seemed to like math and science, when it came down to decision time, engineering seemed like a no-brainer; plus I liked the idea of perhaps getting paid to build toothpick bridges.

What do you like to do for fun?

I like playing sports in my free time. Soccer takes up most of my time and I’m currently in three leagues. I recently started a DMC indoor soccer league. I’m also looking to get back into squash this winter. In the summers, I enjoy camping in the woods of Minnesota.

I’m also an avid reader. I can’t get enough of the Game of Thrones series and I can NOT wait for the next book in the series to be released. Lately I’ve been reading a lot of sci-fi books. My all-time-favorite, however, is For Whom the Bell Tolls because of its power and simplicity.

Do you have any hidden talents?

I’m an ok fly fisherman. I worked in Wyoming one summer, nestled in the mountains east of Yellowstone. We were surrounded by the cold mountain streams that trout love. Local fly fishing instructors taught me the ropes, but it was still definitely hard to learn. Some fishermen spend a lot of time researching the right flies to use for the season or weather, but I just try to focus on not tangling the long line.

I was also an above average chess player as a kid. After winning first place in the 5th grade chess competition, I quit while I was ahead and have been resting on my laurels ever since.


Dan's 5th Grade Chess Championship Trophy

Do you have any tips for aspiring chess champions?

Always attack with the knights.

I hear you're the reason DMC has a ping pong table!

Not to brag, but I held the top spot on DMC’s ping pong ladder for a month. When Devon is out of the office, I am clearly the most skilled player in a pool of very competitive engineers.

Where are your favorite spots in Chicago?

I live near the Lincoln Park Zoo, so I like stopping by to check out the big cats. The Signature Lounge has some of Chicago’s best views, and it’s a nice place to grab a drink and enjoy the city. My favorite restaurant is probably Tango Sur. It’s a great Argentinian steakhouse in Lakeview and is BYOB, which you can’t beat.

What was it like living in South America?

I studied abroad in Chile and returned with a love of empanadas, peaches, avocados, wine and speaking Spanish. Chile is underrated; people just know how to live life there. Everyone is very hospitable and the siesta culture is something that I can get behind. One of my favorite experiences involved questionably legal camping in Patagonia and horseback riding in the mountains. I’m in the process of planning a trip back to South or Central America and I can’t wait to return!

What’s your favorite programming language?

LabVIEW’s slogan revolves around “programming in a graphical world,” and as a Mechanical Engineer I enjoy physically connecting things on the screen in LabVIEW. Both high level and low level operations make sense within a visual schema. There’s a slightly tactile element in that what you program on the computer screen makes things move in real life.