Despite efforts to increase participation of racial and ethnic minorities (excluding Asians) in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) in the United States, this group remains underrepresented in these fields. Many efforts to increase minority participation focus on support structures to help this group "get through" the pipeline. However, less attention has been paid to increasing their intrinsic motivation to pursue careers in STEM. Our work is focused on increasing this intrinsic motivation, looking at role models as external influences. Underrepresented minorities are faced with a limited role model pool and in many cases with role models (who we call outliers) whose paths to success and extraordinary achievements are difficult to emulate for the large majority of students. In this study of a representative sample of underrepresented minority students at a predominantly white small private liberal arts university, we show that students are accepting of non-outlier role models who are relatable and embody the qualities typically associated with the existing role models that they value. The evidence suggests that a larger more diverse pool of role models, that represent more feasible paths to success, can be created for this group. We envision a "People Like Me" website based on such a pool as a tool for increasing motivation and persistence of underrepresented minorities in their pursuit of STEM professions.

Seeing themselves represented in the role models they aspire to, has been shown to be important to students' sense of belonging and success. Underrepresented college students in STEM fields are exposed to only a small set of role models. This set often consist of famous individuals with extraordinary stories (we call these outliers), and represent unfeasible paths to success for a large majority of these students. We aim to remedy this by identifying a set of role models who represent more feasible paths to success (we call these non-outliers) for many underrepresented students. We contend that, despite the less extraordinary success and stories of non-outliers, they share important qualities with outliers. We envision a "People Like Me" website based on profiles of this broader set of role models that can be used as a tool for recruitment and retention. Our current work is to (1) identify role model qualities from the perspective of students, (2) identify and create profiles of non-outlier role models based on these qualities, and (3) test if students are accepting of these nonoutliers as potential role models. We have completed steps (1) and (2), and have found that non-outliers do exhibit the qualities our student sample pool seeks in role models.

The Pulse Physiology Platform is an open-source software application designed to enable accurate and consistent, real-time physiologic simulations for improved medical training and clinical decision-making tools. The platform includes a physiology engine comprised of well-validated lumped-parameter models, differential equations representing feedback mechanisms, and a pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic model. The platform also includes a common data model for standard model and data definitions and a common software interface for engine control and robust physics-based circuit and transport solvers. The Pulse Platform has been incorporated into a number of commercial, research, and academic tools for medical simulation. Significance: The Pulse Platform is an innovative, well-validated, open-source tool for medical modeling and simulation in the training and clinical decision-making field.

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