Will Corcoran is a Research Coordinator at the Ethereum Foundation, best known for his central role in orchestrating the foundation's strategic initiative to transition the Ethereum network to post-quantum (PQ) cryptography. ^{[1] [2]}

Career

Teaching

Will Corcoran began his career in higher education, serving as an Adjunct Professor at Stevens Institute of Technology (2008–2011). He also taught as an Adjunct Professor at Columbia University in the City of New York (Aug–Dec 2010). ^[1]

Architecture

Corcoran then moved into architectural delivery and construction management. As a Project Manager at SHoP Architects in New York City (Aug 2011–Nov 2014), he established firm-wide construction management protocols, applying automated design, documentation, and construction-management techniques while overseeing projects. He later founded and ran WILL ARCHITECTURE (Nov 2014–Nov 2018) in the Greater New York City Area—an architectural and construction-management consulting firm focused on high-end NYC townhouses. He subsequently joined John Ronan Architects as a Senior Associate (Nov 2018–Aug 2021) in the Greater Chicago Area, leading a private–public partnership delivering a public library and senior housing development. ^[1]

Stacks

From Aug 2021 to Dec 2024, Corcoran served as Ecosystem Program Manager at the Stacks Open Internet Foundation. He coordinated ecosystem execution across teams and organizations; managed the Stacks Improvement Proposal (SIP) process; oversaw SignerCX to support network validators; administered grants via Critical Bounties and other R&D funding; and aligned ecosystem initiatives with internal foundation operations. ^[1]

Ethereum Foundation

In Jan 2025, Corcoran joined the Ethereum Foundation as a Research Coordinator, leading coordination for Lean Execution (Ethproofs) and Lean Consensus (PQ Interop). For Ethproofs, he coordinates 13 teams and 8 zkVMs pursuing real-time proving of Ethereum L1 blocks, with reported progress including 1M+ proofs submitted, 36× latency improvement, and 433× cost reduction in under a year. For PQ Interop, he facilitates weekly calls for eight lean consensus client teams implementing post-quantum cryptography, supporting alignment and execution across the client ecosystem. ^[1]