Mark Rober is an engineer and an inventor. He went to Brigham Young University. He also went to the University of Southern California. He studied mechanical engineering. Mark makes science videos for YouTube. As of April 2026, he puts up a new one about once a month.

Mark used to work at NASA. He spent nine years at its Jet Propulsion Laboratory. There he worked on Curiosity, a rover that went to Mars. He worked on the jet pack that lowered the rover to the surface. He also worked on rover hardware used to collect samples.

In 2011, Mark's iPad Halloween costume helped launch his YouTube channel. Mark started a company called Digital Dudz. It made Halloween costumes using tablets and smartphones. He also worked at Apple on product design. He worked in its Special Projects group.

Mark sneaks science into his big, silly builds. He says he hides the science like vegetables. Kids click on a fun video. The science comes along with it. He also says to treat failure like losing a level in a video game. You try again. You figure out how to beat the level.

Mark has battled seed-stealing squirrels in his videos. He built an obstacle course to keep squirrels away from a bird feeder. He filled a pool with Jell-O. He also used two iPads. They made it look like he had a hole through the middle of his body.

Mark teamed up with the YouTuber MrBeast to help the environment. They started Team Trees. It was a project with a goal of planting 20 million trees. Team Trees worked with the Arbor Day Foundation to plant the trees. They also started Team Seas. It was to clean up trash from oceans, rivers and beaches.

Mark started CrunchLabs. It is a company that makes kits for kids. Kids use the kits to build things. They learn about engineering. CrunchLabs wants kids to learn to think like an engineer. Class CrunchLabs gives teachers science lessons for free.

Words to know

• rover: Mars explorer
• Curiosity: a Mars rover
• kits: things to build

The short version

Mark Rober is an engineer and an inventor who makes science videos for YouTube. He worked at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory for nine years, including on the Curiosity rover. He started CrunchLabs, a company that makes kits for kids to build things and learn about engineering.

Quick facts

• Mark Rober worked at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory for nine years.
• He worked on Curiosity, a rover that went to Mars, including its jet pack.
• He started a company called Digital Dudz that made Halloween costumes using tablets and smartphones.
• Team Trees, started with MrBeast, had a goal of planting 20 million trees.
• Class CrunchLabs gives teachers science lessons for free.