Hello everyone! My name is Henri Doucet, I recently finished my first year at Villanova University majoring in Mechanical Engineering with a minor in Mathematics. On campus, I volunteer for the RUIBAL tutoring program and Special Olympics while working with the Villanova University Tech Crew and Formula SAE team. I was also a judge for the MATE underwater robotics competition before coming here, and my newfound interest in robotics is reaching new heights as I spend more time in country. Aside from University, I love playing soccer, spending time with friends, and playing video games.
I have been looking forward to the opportunity to intern in Phnom Penh, Cambodia with the Golden West Humanitarian Foundation and the Institute of Technology of Cambodia to develop an affordable EOD robot. I believe international service learning to be an integral part of my education, and I’m excited to further my knowledge in the field of engineering by working with these organizations. In addition, I have the opportunity to work in the Ratanakiri Province with the Caramanico Foundation to provide STEM education to Cambodian highschool students.
This is my first time travelling internationally since I was quite young, so this experience is something I have both looked forward to immensely and begun to cherish already. I didn’t know too much about Cambodia before I was accepted into the IRES program, but the culture is astounding! I mean, just the history in the past several decades alone resonates with me and makes my research/work here increasingly more meaningful. In addition, the whirring of motos zipping by, the beautiful cacophony of the industrializing city, and the mixture of people I’m able to talk to at work and locally make every day unique.
The first week of the program was an introductory period to find where I would be best fit. I had been rotating through the projects to gain engineering experience and knowledge on what interested me and was most valuable to my time in Cambodia. However, a conceptual de-armer extending from a Villanova senior design project recently came to Golden West’s attention. As a result I’m now beginning to work with Preston Whiteman, a Villanova graduate student returning to the IRES program, on developing the senior design project into a feasible ordnance disposal system. The basis of the de-armer is to utilize a propane-oxygen combustion reaction chamber to propel a metal slug into unexploded ordnance. This will render the ordnance safe to remove from the area. The high explosive munitions we are dealing with require two of three factors to detonate: heat, shock, or friction. With the system we are designing, only one of the factors will be met and thus will not detonate the explosive. I am extremely excited to work on such an engaging new project and modify the existing senior design project (which uses propane and oxygen from the air, whereas we will be attempting to use pure oxygen) to fit the necessary standards for safe explosive ordnance disposal.
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