"I always had an interest in the Antarctic, even when I was at high school," she said.
Dr O'Neill's uncle invited her to compete in a marathon on King George Island on the Antarctic Peninsula in 2007. She agreed, despite having no running experience.
She said during the boat ride over from South America, the track looked perfect but snow the night before the race meant the competitors were running in -15C.
"I was left with memories of running on the ice and up glaciers and seeing a humpback whale."
She said during the run she witnessed how the competitors were disturbing the ground surface during the short eight-week window of soil thaw and she became interested in whether the ground had time to recover.
"Then my interest got broader and I was interested in human activities. I looked at landscape recovery following different scales of impact, from camping by scientists out in the field, to footprints, to more extreme disturbances such as base construction."
She has revisited Antarctica three times since the marathon and said there was relatively limited information on the possible consequences of global warming on microbial life in colder environments.
The research will focus on Cape Adare in the Ross Sea region, home to the largest Adelie penguin rookery in Antarctica.
"It is my hope that we will unravel some of the timely questions relating to how these important ecosystems will respond to a warming climate," she said.
Fellow awardee Laurene Bryce received the Rita King Second Chance Award, and is currently studying nursing through Waiariki Institute of Technology. She said as a single mother with three children, her weekly budget was constantly strained.
"This award will allow me to study without that persistent echo of bill payment due! I will be able to pay for my kids' additional school activities and it will be nice to answer my kids with a 'yes' instead of a 'sorry, I can't"," she said.
Also among the awardees was Catherine Irvine, who received the FW scholarship - donated anonymously and open to women over 40 - to help the mother of five complete a bachelor of social work.
The NZ Federation of Graduate Women Mildred Keir Second Chance Award was awarded to Sharon Fletcher, who will soon have a double major in finance and economics, and the Alexandra Kilpatrick Second Chance Education Award went to Simone Cooper, who is studying a bachelor of teaching specialising in early childhood education.
The Waikato Graduate Women Second Chance Award was awarded to Melissa Pol.
Each of the Waikato second chance award recipients received $3000.