Susan Curtiss was a doctoral candidate when Genie was first discovered in 1970. A little more than six months later, Curtiss was invited to work on the case by Victoria Framken, her teacher. Curtiss began working with Genie on a weekly basis, writing down everything she said for analysis later. In time, Curtiss and Genie became good friends, often spending their time together shopping or singing. Curtiss documented Genie's progress with her speech as well as other progress Genie made in her time as an object of Curtiss' studies.