Panzenhagen entered the Air Force in 2000 as an aircraft maintenance officer, later transitioning to the developmental engineering career field.

In September 2002, she entered the Air Force Institute of Technology Graduate School of Engineering and Management.

She has also attended the Squadron Officer School, National Security Space Institute, Air Command and Staff College, Marine Corps Command and Staff College, Air War College, Defense Acquisition University, Dwight D. Eisenhower School for National Security and Resource Strategy, Harvard Kennedy School, and Alan L. Freed Associates as part of her professional military education.

[1] From December 2001 to March 2002, Panzenhagen deployed to Prince Sultan Air Base, Saudi Arabia in support of Operation Southern Watch.

She then attended the Air Force Institute of Technology earning a master's degree in aeronautical engineering in 2004.

Following that command tour, she went back to studying at the Dwight D. Eisenhower School for National Security and Resource Strategy for a year.

[6][7] In June 2022, she started serving as the senior military assistant to Under Secretary of the Air Force Gina Ortiz Jones.