Stone Ridge graduates use the Goals and Criteria throughout their lives, proving Sacred Heart education to be timely and timeless. Our alumnae are innovative thinkers and doers in every community they touch.

Even as new initiatives in innovation are embraced, our mission to inspire young women to lead and serve through lives of purpose that integrate faith, intellect, community, social action, and personal growth in an atmosphere of wise freedom has laid a foundation for innovation for over a century. Stone Ridge graduates use the Goals and Criteria throughout their lives, proving Sacred Heart education to be timely and timeless. Our alumnae are innovative thinkers and doers in every community they touch. We invited them to tell us how they were embodying innovation in their careers and daily lives.

Lena Bakalian ’16

Water Engineering, Flood Mitigation, Climate Resilience

An issue like climate change is vast and complex; it requires critical thinking and problem-solving skills coupled with true collaboration and innovation. Over the 14 years I attended Stone Ridge, I practiced and honed many of these skills in and out of the classroom, creating a strong foundation rooted in the Goals of Sacred Heart education on which I have built my career.

Today, I am a water engineer in New York City, where I call on these skills daily in my work driving innovative solutions to urban flooding. My work centers around the use of green infrastructure to reduce localized flooding in cities, through technologies such as bioswales, rain gardens, green roofs, and permeable pavement. Where traditionally concrete and other impermeable materials are used in urban areas, the goal of green infrastructure is to increase the amount of green and permeable spaces in those areas, making cities more resilient. This not only addresses the issue of flooding but also has a host of other co-benefits, including increasing access to green spaces in heavily urbanized and underserved areas, amplifying local biodiversity by introducing microhabitats, and contributing to mitigation of the heat- island effect. When green infrastructure practices are systematically implemented across a city, they can create drastic improvements that directly boost people’s quality of life.

While it often feels like we cannot keep up with climate change and its effects, it gives me hope that we also cannot seem to keep up with the innovations that are continually emerging in this field. I look forward to implementing innovations in my work to contribute to positive changes for the environment and people.

Sarah O’Herron ’90

Proprietor of Black Ankle Vineyards

At Black Ankle Vineyards, innovation is not any one great leap, but a series of small steps that can add up to a big change. One of our big goals is to minimize our environmental impact wherever we can. 

Our farming practices are driven by that goal, which is a long story in and of itself, but one of the most visible (and relatable) ways we try to lessen our footprint is with our packaging. In wine production and sales, the biggest carbon sink is the use of glass bottles. Glass is still the best way to package wine from a portability and aging standpoint, but glass is energy-intensive to make, heavy to transport, and, even if recycled, can have a big environmental impact. We have long tried to mitigate that impact by buying the lightest glass bottles available and storing our bottles in reusable trays rather than single-use cardboard boxes, but this year we are experimenting with a fun new project—wine in kegs! Close to 10% of the wine we produce is consumed by visitors to our tasting room through tastings, wine flights, wine-pairing dinners, and leisurely afternoons enjoying the view, and it is our goal to have none of that wine (or nearly none) go into a single-use bottle. This year, we will keg up the equivalent of more than 800 cases of wine, which means we will save more than 10,000 bottles. It is a small step, but over time it will make a big difference.

Another small but fun project that we have going is an ever-expanding wildflower garden. By its very nature, farming disrupts the natural order—we are choosing what will grow where, rather than just letting nature decide, but of course, we need food (and wine!), so that cannot be avoided. To minimize that disruption, we have always let the areas around the vineyards and between rows be populated by volunteer plants, but a few years back, we decided to go a step further and plant a pollinator garden of native wildflowers. We loved the flowers—and the bees, butterflies, and birds they hosted—so much that we have been expanding that garden wherever we can find a spot, including a four-acre patch at the edge of our tasting room lawn planted this spring. It’s a little extra work to maintain, but the upside of a gorgeous field of flowers and the positive impact they have on the environment is well worth it!

Lashelle Roundtree ’89

National Security Professional & Due Diligence Specialist, Former US Intelligence Officer (CIA), Torchlight Industry Advisory Board Member

After graduating from Georgetown with a B.S. in Finance, I started my Wall Street career. Unsatisfied, I returned to school to earn an M.A. in Law & Diplomacy from the Fletcher School at Tufts University. Upon graduating in 1999, I was recruited to work at the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). I was finally able to use my experience in banking and finance working in an innovative environment toward a common mission to make the world a safer place: The post-9/11 Global War on Terror. In 2001, I was assigned to the CIA’s newest team within its Counterterrorism Center, at the forefront of “following the money” to disrupt and dismantle al-Qaida.

Stone Ridge challenged me to think critically and discover new ways to solve complex problems. Innovative thinking was vital to my success as an intelligence officer and beyond—particularly with regard to problem-solving, collaborating with global partners, and using technology. For example, countering terrorism demands adaptability and creative thinking. Our adversaries remain agile and flexible in their determination to uphold and spread their ideologies. I routinely draft forward-thinking strategic papers to support the U.S. president and top U.S. foreign policymakers in their decision-making on national security threats. The fight against terrorism transcends borders, requiring a unified and global response. I seek new ways to share information and pool resources with global allies in confronting our common enemies. Combating terrorism relies on cutting-edge technology to prevent and respond to crisis situations—especially with today’s enhanced surveillance systems, artificial intelligence, data analytics, and cybersecurity. I identify new ways these tools can further U.S. economic security.

I have traveled to 88 countries and had an amazing career. I look forward to continuing the mission of transforming the world into a safer place through dedication and innovation. I credit my Stone Ridge education for instilling in me the need to do so and for providing me with the intellectual tools to make it happen.

Jennifer Rusiecki ’85

Professor of Epidemiology, Uniformed Services University

Throughout my career in epidemiology, I have studied how environmental exposures may put people at risk for developing certain chronic diseases, such as cancers, respiratory illnesses, cardiovascular diseases, and metabolic disorders. Some of these exposures you may have heard about in the media, such as PFAS or “forever chemicals,”  emissions from the petrochemical industry, spilled crude oil, plasticizers, and most recently emerging on the scene, micro- and nano-plastics.

The idea of measuring the sum of all exposures a person experiences in their lifetime is called “the exposome.” It is a real challenge to try to understand what a person has been exposed to over many years; it has to be approached collaboratively and innovatively. I regularly work with scientists of many different backgrounds—molecular biologists, chemists, and physicians, and, now in this new age of big data, bioinformaticists. My research incorporates molecular epidemiology and modern statistical methods to evaluate health risks from not just one exposure at a time, but the multitude of exposures we experience over our lifetimes.

This is a really exciting time to work in my field. There are emerging molecular methods, such as metabolomics, which can indicate past exposures as well as internal processes that may be activated in disease. New methods for detecting not only microplastics in humans but even smaller nano-plastics are evolving the way we view plastic food packaging and plastic waste. Detecting patterns of complex exposures and pathways that may be related to a disease is now possible by using new machine learning methods. Things I couldn’t dream about being able to do even a few years ago are now possible.

Because of my passion for the environment, I co-founded a local citizen action group, Green Olney, a few years ago in my hometown of Olney, Maryland. We tackle global environmental problems at the local level, focusing on the reduction of single-use plastics in the community and the promotion of composting.  

Tara Fettig Ryan ’85

Lawyer, Sony Interactive Entertainment

Innovation, seen through the lens of a Sacred Heart education, goes beyond novelty. It’s about recognizing extraordinary possibilities through collaborative discovery and hands-on experiences.

As a lawyer who has represented both pharmaceutical companies and now video game companies, I’ve witnessed firsthand how innovation can transform industries and the world in very different ways. Recently, I joined Sony Interactive Entertainment to represent PlayStation, advocating on crucial issues such as online safety, privacy, AI, and, importantly, the overall societal value of video games. Despite often being underestimated, the video game industry is the fastest-growing form of interactive entertainment around the world, and its impact is far-reaching.

Video game development explores extraordinary possibilities and drives creators and developers to contribute to societal progress. Today, video games extend beyond entertainment; they have evolved into powerful tools in fields as diverse as medicine, education, and military exercises.

Video games also foster a sense of community and shared experience across cultures and generations. Features like customizable controls, visual and audio aids, and adjustable difficulty levels make them accessible for all.

The power of play, central to video games, is a profound driver of innovation. Play stimulates creativity, enhances problem-solving skills, and encourages failure and resilience. Through play, individuals learn to experiment, take risks, and develop new ideas—qualities essential for innovation. This playful approach to problem-solving and creativity is quietly transforming the world in subtle yet powerful ways.

The collaborative nature of video game development and gameplay mirrors the Sacred Heart values of empathy and collective discovery. Through hands-on experimentation and critical inquiry, game development and play continually push the boundaries of what we believe we’re capable of and what is possible. Both development and play teach us to understand and engage with complex systems and technologies more deeply and more personally, leading to incremental transformations of systems in the world. Only by embracing adversity and overcoming challenges can innovation flourish.

Video games exemplify the relationship between creativity and struggle, a concept deeply ingrained in Sacred Heart teachings. By overcoming challenges and

embracing adversity, true innovation flourishes, leading to advancements that benefit individuals and communities alike. These advancements often occur as video games integrate new technologies and ideas into everyday life.

As we navigate the ever-evolving landscape of technology and entertainment, it’s essential to recognize how innovation in video games contributes to making the world a better place. By incorporating principles of empathy, collaboration, and creativity, video games are revolutionizing life. These innovations, unwittingly aligned with Sacred Heart Goals, help us envision and create a brighter, more connected future for everyone.

Deirdre White ’84

Chief Executive Officer, Pyxera Global

I often think back to my Stone Ridge experience and how it contributed to my work and leadership today at Pyxera Global, particularly the Stone Ridge focus on problem-solving, critical thinking, future orientation, and creative transformation. Pyxera Global is a non-profit social enterprise with a mission “to solve our world’s most pressing challenges, one community at a time.” A specific technique, which has now touched two decades of Pyxera Global employees, is the importance of “so what?”

In Mrs. Koss’s notoriously difficult U.S. History class, we had “IDs” instead of quizzes: we were given an event or a phrase from our recent learnings—for instance, the Dred Scott decision or the Teapot Dome scandal—and we had to answer: Who? What? When? Where? Why? How? and, importantly, So What? It was never good enough for us to just memorize facts; we had to think about what those facts meant in the larger picture and how a seemingly isolated event related to the past and impacted the future.

Today, I always ask my team members to think not just about the facts of the project they are implementing but also about how their work relates to the systems around them. They know I am not interested in a simple report of what was achieved but an analysis of why it matters and how that contributes to our social impact mission. In a world that is changing at breakneck speed, where uncertainty is rapidly becoming the norm in many spheres of life and work, and where innovation is a necessity, the skills of critical evaluation and systems thinking are an absolute requirement. I’m grateful that I was exposed early to those skills at Stone Ridge and that I have been able to use them to influence two generations of passionate social impact professionals. ❤