Engineering Professor & Extension Engineer 1980-Present
Ken has a Ph. D. degree in engineering, is a registered professional engineer, and has obtained the academic rank of tenured Professor at North Dakota State University. As an Extension (outreach) Engineer of Agricultural & Biosystems Engineering at North Dakota State University, he has provided education and technical assistance in grain drying and storage, structures with a focus on energy efficiency, indoor environmental engineering primarily related to moisture and mold, and flood preparation and recovery to farmers, citizens, agribusiness, and professionals across the United States and internationally since 1980.
His educational program utilizes numerous methods including publications, presentations, media, individual consultations, and the internet to provide education and technical assistance to clientele. He has authored or co-authored more than 220 publications and numerous resources that are on the internet. These include technical papers, proceedings, professional standards, chapters in handbooks, videos, and peer-reviewed Extension circulars and bulletins distributed by private business, professional societies, and universities internationally. Ken has presented more than 1,000 seminars and has provided engineering assistance to more than 15,000 people across the United States and internationally.
He has conducted research on numerous grain drying and storage topics including moisture content changes in stored grain during summer, drying and storage of dry edible beans, air temperature increase due to grain drying and aeration fans, soybean storage, and aeration duct design. He has conducted numerous grain dryer energy audits.
He has been a member of the flood preparation and recovery team for the national Extension Disaster Education Network (EDEN) and eXtension.org, and was the author of the mold remediation section. He served on the “Healthy Indoor Air for America’s Home’s” national leadership and training committee for the program and provided education on mold remediation nationally via a U.S. Housing and Urban Development webinar. Hellevang has presented numerous seminars on mold and building moisture management in several states to medical doctors and to public health and building professionals. In addition, he conducted a seven-hour-long training on mold remediation for North Dakota Health Department personnel. He has been recognized by United States Department of Agriculture - CSREES with two national Honor Awards for educational efforts related to flood recovery and home moisture issues, including mold remediation.
Hellevang led a task force of representatives from agencies and organizations interested in biomass for energy in North Dakota. Several action items developed by the task force resulted in legislation, such as the creation of the Renewable Energy Council, funding for renewable energy grants, and creation of the NDSU Bio Energy and Product Innovation Center, of which he was director for several years. His energy program has included serving as vice-chair of the ND Alliance for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency and participation in state energy commissions and associations.
He is active in the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers (ASABE -The Society for engineering in agricultural, food, and biological systems) having served in numerous leadership roles and in other professional organizations. He has been recognized with the grade of Fellow by ASABE, the highest honor bestowed on 0.2 percent of members annually, as a 2017 Distinguished Alumnus of Agricultural & Biosystems Engineering at South Dakota State University, and as Professional Engineer of the Year 2018 by ASABE with 8,000 members from 130 countries. He also received the ASABE Sukup Global Food Security Award.
Key words: Specialist, campus, agricultural and Biosystems Engineering, engineer, ANR, crop, grain, potato, sugarbeet, drying, storage, buildings, structures, environment, moisture, mold, flooding, energy, efficiency, indoor air quality.