Micro Spark project RePlayMyPlay, an energy harvesting playground, is in the spotlight on Carnegie Mellon University’s homepage.

RePlayMyPlay project manager Deren Guler, a recent graduate of CMU’s Physics department, shares some of her thinking behind the creation and ongoing development of RePlayMyPlay and the gratification that comes from introducing children to new concepts:

“The best thing is the look that comes over kids’ faces when I explain to them what I am doing,” said Guler, who has long held an interest in renewable energy technology. “They almost instantly understand what’s going on. That makes me feel like I’ve succeeded in finding a way to get kids excited about learning concepts that might otherwise seem too complicated for them to understand.”

Deren won a Micro Spark award to support the early development of RePlayMyPlay and continues to work closely with Sprout and her community partners to find a permanent home for the project.

You can meet Deren and interact with some of her RePlayMyPlay designs at Sprout’s exhibit at the WYEP Summer Music Festival in Schenley Plaza in Oakland on Friday, June 25 from 4 to 8pm.