September 28, 2024
MIT ChemE is proud to welcome Javit Drake ’94 as an associate professor of the practice, effective July 1, 2024. In this role, Drake will continue his collaboration with Professor Fikile Brushett, while establishing new collaborations that leverage his expertise in electrochemical energy storage and reactors and in transport phenomena using mathematical modeling. His research aims to improve electrochemical system efficiency and rate capability for real-world performance objectives — such as, battery fast charge, high power density, and high energy density — through enhancement of mass and thermal energy transfer. Drake also has ongoing interest in interdisciplinary product design. He will continue to teach electrochemical energy and core curriculum.
An undergraduate alumnus of the department, Drake launched his professional partnership with MIT in 2010 as a lecturer and then visiting scientist while also serving as a principal scientist at Procter & Gamble (P&G) until 2022, when he switched focus to MIT full-time. While at MIT, Drake created and continues to teach his own course, an ICE-T* module, “Electrochemical Energy – Batteries & Fuel Cells.” A popular class, this version of 10.493 is unique in being the only ICE-T module that incorporates hands-on laboratory experiments with fuel cells in addition to theoretical design and analysis of batteries. Drake has been a valuable creator of models, an inventor, and an author of publications regarding the use of flow to boost electrochemical cell performance. During AY2023, he was recognized as an MIT MLK Visiting Scholar through a program that aims to enrich the MIT community by inviting professionals at the forefront of their respective fields to the Institute.
Drake completed an SB in chemical engineering and a minor in music at MIT in 1994, and a PhD in chemical engineering at the University of California, Berkeley in 2000. His graduate research was conducted under the guidance of Prof. John Newman, a highly regarded pioneer in electrochemical engineering, and Prof. Clayton Radke, an interfacial phenomena expert. Upon earning his doctorate, Drake worked two years at Agilent Technologies. He subsequently embarked on a nearly 20-year career at Duracell and parent company, P&G. During this time, Drake distinguished himself as an innovator and truly excellent industrial scientist and engineer focused on the use of mathematical models to understand the operation of physical systems. His multi-physics models and experimental approaches spanned from porous electrode theory and multi-component diffusion to solid and fluid mechanics and helped identify practical routes towards substantial increases in performance of electrochemical systems and personal care products.
*ICE-T: Integrated Chemical Engineering Topics class module