Mary Elaine DeVries O’Neill was born in Armour, South Dakota, on June 13, 1950, to Ray and Ruby DeVries. She attended high school in Corsica, South Dakota, graduating in 1968. She earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Math in 1972 and a Master’s degree in Geography in 1994, both from South Dakota State University. She married Douglas O’Neill in 1993.

Her professional career includes various significant roles at South Dakota State University (SDSU) and other institutions. She has served as the SDView Coordinator at the Water Resources Institute since January 2014 and was the Program Manager for Remote Sensing at the Water Resources Institute from 2010 to 2013. From 1989 to 2010, she was the Manager of the Office of Remote Sensing at the Engineering Resource Center. Additionally, she worked as an Adjunct Instructor in several departments at SDSU, including Geography (2003-2013), Engineering Technology and Management (2005-2006), and Mathematics (Spring 2005). She was a Visiting Scientist at the EROS Data Center in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, in 1993 and held various positions at the Remote Sensing Institute at SDSU from 1972 to 1989.

O’Neill has been involved in numerous projects and activities throughout her career. She was the principal investigator of a USGS-funded AmericaView project aimed at building partnerships and infrastructure in South Dakota to enhance the availability and use of remote sensing and geospatial data. She also supported USAID/Uganda’s Feed the Future Program as a Geographic Information System Specialist through an Intergovernmental Personnel Agreement with the USGS National Center for EROS from May 2011 to December 2012. Other notable projects include co-investigating remote sensing for water quality monitoring on the Lake Traverse Reservation, coordinating South Dakota’s Education Public Access Resource Center (EdPARC), and leading the Main Street Sioux Falls GIS Development and Maintenance project.

O’Neill has contributed to the field through international workshops and projects, including geospatial technology workshops for K-12 educators, digitization and spatial data conversion projects for the National Center for EROS, and collaborative projects in Poland and Israel. She has participated in remote sensing workshops in countries such as Bangladesh, India, Senegal, Sudan, and Nepal.

Beyond her technical contributions, O’Neill played a crucial role in establishing the Professional Staff Advisory Council at SDSU, which provides representation for non-faculty exempt staff members. She retired in 2013 but continues to impact the field through her ongoing work as SDView Coordinator.