Dr. Spencer Striker

Spencer Striker, PhD, is Professor of Digital Media Design at Northwestern University | Qatar, specializing in innovative digital learning experiences, interactive media, and game-based education. His work intersects interaction design, mobile media, digital storytelling, and ed-tech entrepreneurship.

Dr. Striker’s flagship project, History Adventures: World of Characters, is a cross-platform digital learning series reimagining history education. It combines immersive technology with narrative design. Installments include Empires & Interconnections, Revolutions & Industrialization, and Generation Revolution. He is also producing Legacy of Light: House of Wisdom, an AI-animated series on the Islamic Golden Age. Each product engages learners through choice-driven narratives and immersive multimedia, fostering empathy.

His Global Pandemics series — including Plague of Athens and Black Death Interactive — leverages interactive storytelling and immersive technologies (web, mobile, VR) to enhance understanding of historical health crises. These, along with Dr. Sara: Disease Detective, showcase his approach to science education. Dr. Striker also spearheads projects addressing contemporary issues, such as Chaos Corp., a mobile game teaching digital literacy.

His creative scholarship has garnered numerous accolades. Dr. Striker’s projects have received competitive funding from institutions including the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and the Qatar National Research Foundation.

Before joining Northwestern, Dr. Striker was the founding Creative Director of Galxyz, a Silicon Valley ed-tech startup. Bridging academic expertise with technology innovation, he pushes the boundaries of digital media design in education.

Dr. Striker holds a Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin–Madison, a Master’s degree from Indiana University, and undergraduate degrees from the University of Texas at Austin.