Karen Schwall was from Crystal Lake, Illinois, and attended the University of Dubuque, where she graduated in 1983.
[3][4] While working on the continent, she specialized in logistics operations.
[3] In that period, she joined Ann Peoples and Janet Phillips as the first all-female team leading the three U.S. Antarctic Program stations.
[3][5] She returned to manage the station in the over-winter period from February to August 1995, in which time she was promoted to major.
[3] In 1999, Schwall Peak in Staten Island Heights was named in her honor.