​Dominique ter Huurne, a 2016 graduate of the SSML, has embarked on a Swiss adventure to gain international experience in the field of traffic engineering. She landed an internship with SWISSTRAFFIC INC. in the capital city of Bern, where she will be exposed to projects relating to Mobility (Traffic Planning, Mobility Management, Smart Cities, and Intelligent Traffic Counting), Safety and Signalisation. SWISSTRAFFIC INC. is ahead of the game in terms of cutting edge technology deployed in transportation systems. During her internship, Dominique will not only put to use the knowledge and skills acquired during her postgraduate studies at the SSML, but she will eventually bring home newly developed expertise. In the future, she is hoping to return to Stellenbosch and academics to pursue a PhD in transportation engineering.

Dominique first became truly acquainted with smart city applications during her master's research, for which she tackled the traffic congestion problem in Stellenbosch. She performed an economic evaluation of a bicycle-sharing scheme for school and university destined commuter traffic, proposed as a sustainable mode of transport to relieve this traffic congestion. The bicycle-sharing alternative was found to be significantly more economical and sustainable than common-practice roadway capacity expansions, and should earnestly be considered as part of Stellenbosch's political agenda.