He graduated from Santa Monica High School in 1958 and moved back to New York to attend college.
[1] After graduation, Kilian was drafted into the United States Army where he completed a two-year tour of duty.
[1] After his tour of duty, he became a technical writer for the Lawrence Radiation Laboratory in Berkeley, California.
Kilian taught in two British Columbia community colleges between 1967 and 2008, of which five months were spent in China from 1983 to 1984.
Kilian has published hundreds of articles on a wide range of topics including education, science, environment, politics, web writing, and books.