Under Secretary of Science Paul Dabbar shares how our national laboratories helped make the mission to Mars possible and how you can help too.
June 25, 2020Did you know that three of our seventeen national laboratories had key roles in making the mission to explore Mars possible?
This July, NASA will launch the Mars Perseverance Rover, which will explore Mars for a full Martian year, studying the air and surface to bring back a wealth of data about the Red Planet.
Listen to Under Secretary of Science Paul Dabbar in the video below, as he shares how staff at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Idaho National Laboratory, and Los Alamos National Laboratory helped make this mission happen, and how you can also help through NASA’s AI for Mars website.
As the ‘Department of Exploration’, we study the smallest and largest parts of the universe, opening new horizons in science and discovery. STEM skills are critical for this work, and we want to encourage all students in America to learn about science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) as much as you can in school and do hands-on activities to try it out.
Go to NASA’s AI for Mars website here and jump in! We think you’ll love being part of the work to explore the red planet, by classifying existing pictures with categories to train the AI algorithm.
Visit www.energy.gov/STEM for additional STEM information, activities, and internship opportunities, and www.energy.gov/AI to learn all about our work in Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and beyond.
AnneMarie Horowitz

AnneMarie Horowitz is the Chief of Staff for the Arctic Energy Office. She joined the Arctic Energy Office in May 2023. AnneMarie has been with the Energy Department since 2010, and was previously on the digital team of the Office of Public Affairs, where she managed digital projects and internal employee communications efforts. AnneMarie was the Digital Communications Manager from March 2023 - September 2023 for the Department of Health and Human Affairs' Public Education Campaign, We Can Do This, to share information about the COVID vaccine.
From 2015 - 2017 she served as the Special Advisor on workforce issues for Deputy Secretary of Energy Dr. Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall. She has also previously worked in the Under Secretary for Management and Performance and in the Office of Minority Economic Impact.
AnneMarie has a BA in Political Science from the University of Portland and a Masters of Government from Johns Hopkins University.