Alumni Profile: Ken McNaughton
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Degree: Chemical Engineering 1962 Current Position: Writer and actor, Ellicott City, Maryland, USA Alumni in the USA might recognise the name – and the face – of Chemical Engineering alumnus Ken McNaughton. Ken is an actor and essayist who appears as an extra in movies filmed in the region of his home in Maryland. He also initiated the first University of Melbourne alumni association in North America. Originally from Melbourne, Ken has lived in the States for many years and has had a distinguished career in science and technology publishing. His numerous interests include researching and writing about his family's historical ties to Australia and Scotland. |
After completing my bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering at the University of Melbourne in 1962, I took an extra subject and got honors in Philosophy I. In 1964, I became the first graduate from the engineering school at Monash University with a Master of Engineering Science. I then did two years’ postgraduate research in biochemical engineering at University College, London, and traveled extensively, living in Rome, Paris, Mexico, the Bahamas and various cities around America. I developed a communications network for a non-profit organization, and at one stage had twenty-six radio stations taking live and syndicated shows about religion, winning a total of five broadcast awards.
I worked for the McGraw-Hill Publishing Company in New York for ten years, as an editor on Chemical Engineering magazine and editor-in-chief of The Industrial Chemist. During this period I launched the first Alumni Association for the University of Melbourne in North America, which held numerous very successful meetings on the East Coast and published a newsletter in the early 1990s. Then I spent thirteen years with The America Institute of Physics, first as managing editor of Physics Today and then as Associate Publisher of Industrial Physicist, which I launched and ran for ten years.
As a member of the Screen Actors’ Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists I enjoy taking extra roles in major movies that film in the Washington DC/Baltimore region. I play a Virginia Delegate in episode two of John Adams, a television mini-series co-produced by Tom Hanks, due for release in May 2008, and The Watcher, a principal role in a Towson University movie called Misplaced.
Lately I have been concentrating on researching, writing, illustrating and publishing familiar essays, which combine family history, contextual history and literary devices. After a trip to Scotland in 2007, I published two stories about the Macnachtan family castles in The Red Banner, newsletter of the Clan Macnachtan Association Worldwide. These can be found under 'On-Line Publications' for June, September, and December 2007 at their web site, www.clanmacnaughton.org. In June 2007 I started publishing stories in Ancestor, the quarterly magazine of the Genealogical Society of Victoria, and also have one in the June-July 2007 newsletter of the Port Phillip Pioneers Group (http://home.vicnet.net.au/~pioneers/pppg5cn.htm).
Other hobbies include walking, swimming, movies, dancing and trying to keep up with my two children. Aurelius John McNaughton (33) handles catering for events at the Portland Art Museum in Oregon, while Dr Candace Ann McNaughton (31) has a naturopathy practice in Seattle, Washington.
