Education
She received her Bachelor of Arts in physics in 1959 from Cornell University and pursued graduate studies in physics at the University of Illinois where she earned a master"s degree in 1961 and a Doctor of Philosophy in 1965. Shortly after earning her Doctor of Philosophy, she worked as a post-doctoral fellow at the International Business Machines Corporation research laboratory in Zurich, Switzerland from 1965 to 1967, before returning to America to serve as a physics professor at Indiana University for 18 years.
Career
After her time at Indiana University, Franz spent 5 years on the faculty of West Virginia University and three years on the faculty of the University of Alabama in Huntsville. In 1994, she took a five-year leave of absence from her faculty position to assume her position as executive officer of the American Physical Society (Australian Psychological Society ). Franz has published a number of high profile articles on condensed matter physics, most notably related to the theoretical calculations of electron state wave functions in systems undergoing metal-insulator transitions.
She served as Executive Officer of the American Physical Society for 15 years, encouraging more women to pursue careers in physics.
She is now retired.
