Think your dog is smart? A Georgia College visiting scholar to put Fido to the test

You might have seen bumper stickers boasting “My dog is smarter than your honor student.”

This spring, a visiting scholar at Georgia College will be on a quest to find the smartest dog in Milledgeville.

Eduardo Mercado III, a professor of psychology at State University of New York at Buffalo, is returning to his hometown as the fifth Martha Daniel Newell Visiting Scholar for the spring 2017 semester.

Not only will he be teaching “Mammalian Minds” and lecturing on whale song, dolphin cognition and changes in brains of children on the autism spectrum, but Mercado will lead the search for the community’s most intelligent canine in the spring.

More details on the competition are expected to be released in the coming weeks.

Mercado has been researching the brain to determine factors that determine what it can achieve, according to a release from Georgia College.

His work in Milledgeville follows his 2009 research while at Stanford University in California as a fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences.

“During my last sabbatical, I was able to interact with a more interdisciplinary group of faculty than I would normally get to talk with,” Mercado said in the statement. “Having grown up in Milledgeville, I was immediately intrigued by the possibility of returning.”

Ken Proctor, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, said Mercado will help students and the whole community explore new facets of neuroscience.

“With his ability to present scientific ideas in a way that is accessible to a wide audience, Dr. Mercado’s residency will engage both campus and community.”

This story was originally published January 12, 2017 at 10:03 AM with the headline "Think your dog is smart? A Georgia College visiting scholar to put Fido to the test."