MANSFIELD, PA— As Erin Ratliff prepares for the last semester of her senior year at Mansfield University, the senior Psychology major, with a minor in Biology, already has her sights set on the next step of her journey thanks to a prestigious fellowship she completed last summer.
Ratliff, from Spring Grove, PA, was one of only 12 students 
selected from more than 600 applicants across the country to take part in the American Psychological Association (APA) Summer Science Fellowship program (SSF) at George Mason University in Virginia.
While she was slightly intimidated by her summer surroundings at first, Ratliff quickly realized she wasn’t alone.
“When we got there we were all so humbled that we were selected,” she said.
Ratliff was assigned to the Human Factors and Applied Congitions Lab, studying how humans interact with their environment, doing research funded by the U.S. Air Force.
“It took a while before I actually knew why we were studying certain things,” Ratliff said.
But once she did figure that out, she also realized she was where she wanted to be, heading to where she wants to go professionally, becoming a research professor.
“I was already planning on heading to graduate school, entering PhD programs in behavioral genetic,” Ratliff said. “Essentially what we got was the opportunity to do is be grad students. It solidified my decision that I wanted to go to grad school and that I really belonged there. It was awesome to be in that environment and know what I wanted to do.”
Ratliff also realized that Mansfield had prepared her for this opportunity and to pursue her goals.
“I felt like I might be behind or that I didn’t necessarily have the qualifications, but being there with 11 other people who were chosen for this, many from big research schools, I was really excited to figure out I belonged and I was on the right track,” she said.
Ratliff was among the MU students who presented at the Council of Public Liberal Arts Colleges (COPLAC) Fall 2014 Regional Undergraduate Research, Scholarly and Creative Activity Conference, held at Keene State College, NH on November 7-8.
She credits the combination of the research opportunities she has had at MU and knowing she needed other opportunities as the reasons for applying, with encouragement, for the APA Fellowship.
“I’ve received so much support, from the Psychology Department in particular and even my Biology professors who were very excited for me to go and do this fellowship,” she said. “I wasn’t even going to apply but Dr. (Dennis) Murray really encouraged me and three of my professors wrote recommendation letters.”
For more information on the Department of Psychology at MU, go to mansfield.edu/psychology/