Dear Dr.

Domenica Zentner:

My name is Navya Krishna and I am a junior at River Hill High School in Howard
County, Maryland, where I am enrolled in the Gifted and Talented Independent Research
Program. My research topic for this academic school year is cardiac events during pregnancy.
Throughout this year, I hope to develop a more specific research question within this topic. I also
aim to educate myself further in this area. By the end of the academic school year, I hope to have
generated an annotated bibliography and research paper, and developed a product that will create
some new knowledge, solve a real problem, and be presented to an interested, authentic
audience. As part of the research of the process, I have examined a variety of scholarly articles to
find a research topic.
When looking for articles, I came across one of your papers from 2008, called
Deterioration in cardiac systolic and diastolic function late in normal human pregnancy​. I
enjoyed reading your work on cardiac function during pregnancy because it’s closely aligned
with my interest. The article caught my eye because the results of the experiment are providing
me with the starting point that I need for further research. The paragraph about limitations and
further directions is also very helpful. Do you know has there been any recent work done in the
areas mentioned in this paragraph, for example the state of the heart during pregnancy when a
woman participates in the activities of her daily life or exercises? Also, if you could repeat the
experiment would you still use the methods from your paper or would you want to use newer
technology? The experiment is very thorough, and a lot of important variables were controlled,
which is another reason that this article is currently and probably will continue to be important
for my research.
Because your paper is so relevant to my research topic, I was wondering if you could
assist me on my research this year. I am currently looking for someone to guide me, and I could
use an expert like you. If you have the time and are interested, I would like to interview you and
would appreciate any resources you could refer me to. Any feedback you could give me to help
direct my research or improve any of my upcoming assignments, such as my paper, would be
very helpful. I have attached an overview of the course with information on its timeline. I am
available by email, phone, text, or whatever method of communication is most convenient for
you. If you prefer to contact my teacher, her email is ​msasser@hcpss.org​ .
Thank you for your consideration, and I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Sincerely,

Navya Krishna