Will Cross serves as the Director of the Open Knowledge Center at North Carolina State University, an Instructor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and a Senior Policy Fellow at American University Washington College of Law.

He holds a J.D. from UNC Chapel Hill, where he also earned an M.S. in Library and Information Science, an M.A. in Media Law & Policy, and a B.A. in Constitutional History and Dramatic Art.

As a course designer and presenter, Will has developed training materials and workshops across the United States and for international audiences from Ontario to Abu Dhabi. His current research—supported by grants from the IMLS, the Hewlett Foundation, and LYRASIS—focuses on harmonizing copyright literacy across open knowledge communities.

Most recently, Will conducted research on copyright literacies in European open science communities as a Fulbright Schuman Innovation Fellow, based in Amsterdam with fieldwork in Germany, France, the United Kingdom, and Ireland.