  We study the spin-parity distribution P(J$^{\pi}$,E) of $^{156}$Gd excited
states above the neutron separation energy that are expected to be populated
via the neutron pickup reaction $^{157}$Gd($^{3}$He,$^{4}$He)$^{156}$Gd. In
general, modeling of the spin-parity distribution is important for the
applicability of the surrogate reaction technique as a method of deducing
reaction cross sections. We model excited states in $^{156}$Gd as rotational
states built on intrinsic states consisting of a hole in the core where the
hole represents neutron removal form a deformed single particle state. The
reaction cross section to each excited state is calculated using standard
reaction code that uses spherical reaction form-factor input. The spectroscopic
factor associated with each form-factor is the expansion coefficient of the
deformed neutron state in a spherical Sturmian basis consisting of the
spherical reaction form-factors.
