Ken Hellevang, interim chair of North Dakota State University’s Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering Department, has received the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers (ASABE) 2019 Sukup Global Food Security Award.

This award is one of the ASABE’s top honors. It recognizes exemplary work in the enhancement of food security by innovative engineering or the application of engineering in the production and distribution of food, grains and oilseeds, and the handling of grains, oilseeds and other food products. The Sukup Manufacturing Co. endowed this award in 2016.

Hellevang also is a professor in the Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering Department and an NDSU Extension agricultural engineer. He received the award during the ASABE’s annual international meeting in Boston, Mass., on July 10.

The award honors him for his exceptional engineering-based educational Extension program that has enhanced drying, storage and handling of grains, oilseeds and other food products.

“I am honored to be recognized by leaders in food security for my work in crop post-harvest technology,” he says.

He serves as an educator and consultant internationally. He also has conducted considerable research on grain drying and storage, including moisture content changes in stored grain during the summer, drying and storing dry edible beans, air temperature increases due to grain drying and aeration fans, and aeration duct design.

In addition, he is Extension’s resource for mold topics and structural flooding. He has developed videos and other resources for NDSU Extension’s flood website, and has written publications on home moisture and indoor-air quality issues.

Hellevang has authored or co-authored more than 220 peer-reviewed articles, conference proceeding papers and other publications. He was lead author of the Midwest Plan Service’s “Dry Grain Aeration Systems Design Handbook,” which provides design guidance for the industry. He also was a major author of the “Grain Drying, Handling, and Storage Handbook,” which is used as a university textbook and planning resource by the grain industry.

Hellevang has received numerous awards, including the ASABE Professional Engineering Institute’s Engineer of the Year Award and the Distinguished Alumnus Award from South Dakota State University, and was inducted as an ASABE Fellow.

The ASABE is an educational and scientific organization dedicated to the advancement of engineering applicable to agricultural, food and biological systems. It was founded in 1907 and has its headquarters in St. Joseph, Mich. The organization has more than 7,000 members in more than 100 countries.

NDSU Agriculture Communication - July 11, 2019