He specializes in nuclear physics and the use of symmetry methods in various fields of physics. His work receives worldwide recognition for his participation in breakthrough discoveries in the area of nuclear structure and his work on symmetry. Dr. Frank is considered an expert in the application of Group Theory and Algebraic Methods to solve physics problems and is recognized as one of the creators of algebraic dispersion theory. He is also recognized as one of the main theorists of nuclear supersymmetry. In terms of dissemination of scientific work, he established a program by which students conduct summer stays at some of the best nuclear physics research laboratories and he founded the Program to Adopt a Talent, (Pauta for its initials in Spanish), a nationwide project to stimulate scientific talent among the young population.

He has been Consejero Universitario [UNAM Board Member], a member of the Comisión Dictaminadora [Ruling Commission] of four Institutos de la UNAM [UNAM Institutes] and Coordinador del Comité Científico del CONACYT en Ciencias Exactas [Coordinator of CONACYT’s Exact Sciences Scientific Committee]. He headed the departamento de Estructura de la Materia [Matter Structure Department] of the Instituto de Ciencias Nucleares de la UNAM [UNAM’s Institute of Nuclear Sciences], which he currently heads. He is a Member of the Consejo Consultivo de Ciencias de la Presidencia de la República (CCC) [Science Consulting Council of the President’s Office]. 

He has received the Premio de la Academia Mexicana de Ciencias [Mexican Academy of Sciences Prize], the Medalla Marcos Moshinsky [Marcos Moshinsky Medal], the Distinción Universidad Nacional and the Premio Universidad Nacional [National University Distinction and the National University Prize], as well as the Premio Manuel Noriega Morales [Manuel Noriega Morales Prize] of the Organization of American States. Dr Frank also received a fellowship from the Guggenheim Foundation and is a Fellow of the American Physical Society. He was awarded the Premio Nacional de Ciencias y Artes [National Award for Science and Arts]. 

Dr. Frank has published over 135 scientific papers in international refereed journals and another 65 in international circulation books and has been cited on more than 2200 occasions. His work has been summarized in a dozen textbooks, dissertations throughout the world and in dissemination magazines like Scientific American, Physics Today, and Nuclear Physics News. He is the author of a specialty book published by Wiley InterScience and one more by Springer Verlag, a scientific publishing house.