in 2000, frischknecht moved to sandia national laboratories, working first as a postdoctoral fellow and then becoming a permanent member of staff. to understand the behavior of polymers, she relies mostly on molecular modeling techniques like density functional theory and molecular dynamics simulations. notable works include simulations of ionic polymers (polymers that contain ions that are chemically bound to their structure) to find their structures that they form. she has also studied the rheology of polymer-nanoparticle blends, finding that when the blend is placed on a substrate a first-order phase transition occurs that expels the polymer from the surface, causing the particles to form a monolayer.