Ken Hellevang, North Dakota State University Extension agricultural engineer and grain drying specialist, 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 is being honored for his exceptional engineering-based educational Extension program that has enhanced drying, storage and handling of grains, oilseeds and other food products. 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, ag.ndsu.edu/flood, 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 he was inducted as an ASABE Fellow. Hellevang also is the interim chairman of NDSU’s Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering Department.

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.

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