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Student NameZach Weisblatt
Faculty Mentor NameErin Patrick
CollegeCollege of Engineering
MajorElectrical Engineering
Research InterestsI'm interested in the overlap of electrical engineering and biophysical effects/biomedical engineering. With our research, I hope to advance the current understanding of DBS treatment, and see the results of our research extrapolated and used for real, current DBS patients.
Academic AwardsUF Honors College; Dean's List, College of Engineering (5 Semesters); Recipient of the Ralph Sias Scholarship Fund; Selected Candidate for the Eta Kappa Nu Electrical Engineering Honor Society; Inducted Member of Golden Key International Honor Society; Inducted Member of Phi Eta Sigma Honor Society
OrganizationsZeta Beta Tau Fraternity; IEEE at UF; Jewish Student Union
Hobbies and InterestsHobbies include going to the gym and doing community service and philanthropy with my fraternity. When I have free time, I’m usually just spending time with friends, whether taking weekend trips to the beach or just hanging out in Gainesville. Also I’m a big fan of Gator sports teams, and love going to as many football and basketball games as I can.

Research Project

Computational Modeling of DBS Electrodes to Investigate its Effect on Neural Activation

Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) is a neuromodular therapy proven effective in the treatment of essential tremor (ET) and Parkinson’s patients. Our team uses biophysical modeling techniques to analyze the treatment’s electrophysical effects on neural fibers – and the corresponding Volume of Tissue Activated (VTA) – in the effort to further current research understanding of this treatment method. Additionally, our team investigates the effects of non-conventional DBS settings, such as voltage pulse and frequency variation, so that current DBS patients may have their treatment modified and improved for more effective results.