"The SURF program is valuable in what the experience provides for these outstanding students, particularly the intangibles that factor into the career of a good researcher," said Charles Layne, chair of the department of health and human performance and faculty mentor to Patel. "Mainly, how do you deal with subjects from a technical and personal point of view? It's really a skill learned by doing. The answers aren't in the manual."

Together with Layne and doctoral student Amir Pourmoghaddam, Patel will assess 30 patients-10 who received the Deep Brain Stimulation procedure on the right brain lobe, 10 who have received the procedure on the left and 10 who only are using drug therapies. She anticipates her research will be completed in early fall.