New opportunities abroad are being featured in Parks Library.

The official opening of the “Research in Germany” exhibit, a month-long poster exhibition, will be held from 4:15 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. today in the Atrium of the Parks Library. The exhibit, which includes nine sets of posters, will be on display until the end of the month.

The featured speaker for the opening is Michael Engelhard, counsel general in the United States for the Federal Republic of Germany.

Engelhard also will participate in a discussion about contemporary Germany with students and faculty from 3:10 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. today in 207 Marston Hall. A reception is scheduled from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. in the Gold Room of the Memorial Union.

Other speakers include Richard Seagrave, ISU interim president; James Bloedel, vice provost for research; Olivia Madison, dean of Libraries; Wolfgang Kliemann, LAS associate dean for research; and Mark Rectanus, associate professor of foreign languages and literatures.

The exhibition was organized by the Institute for Foreign Cultural Relations in Stuttgart, Germany, and is a joint initiative of 11 major private and public research foundations. The ISU exhibition is sponsored by the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, foreign languages and literatures department and Parks library.

“Three-fourths of Germany’s government-funded basic research is conducted at universities,” Rectanus said. “International scholars participate through collaborations and exchange programs offered by both public and non-profit research foundations, universities and the German government.”

Rectanus is the reason the exhibit came to Iowa State, said Dave Gieseke, public relations manager for the LAS college.

Rectanus was an Alexander von Humboldt research fellow and was researching in the humanities area on a grant in Germany in 1992, 1993 and 1995, he said.

“The exhibition is designed to offer a sense of research opportunities ranging from science and technology to social sciences and humanities,” Rectanus said.

Last summer, Rectanus was contacted about the exhibit by the German Institute for Foreign Culture Relations, located in Stuttgart, Germany. He said the German government is especially interested in providing more research opportunities in its country.

“The German government wants attention for their research and wants to attract the United States to collaborate with them in their research,” Gieseke said. “They created the posters to highlight research opportunities in Germany.”