Pasadena, CA -- GE Healthcare has announced a collaboration Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California for a unded educational project for the Fall term 2007 entitled "Imagination @ Work: Healthcare Everywhere."

In an effort to focus on the future of the healthcare industry and give students a hands-on real world design experience, GE Healthcare is sponsoring an undergraduate transdisciplinary studio project in which students from product design, environmental design and graphic design will team up to develop sustainable solutions to improve healthcare in the home.

The students will work with faculty members from the various disciplines, together with a team of GEHC employees to consider the potential of home healthcare in the future. Designmatters, Art Center's college-wide initiative that focuses on social applications of design, will contribute key expertise, research resources and documentation of

the project.

In addition, following the success of the GE Healthcare's sponsored fall term project in 2006, entitled Healthcare Anywhere 2016, the company has also incorporated other GE businesses into the project in an effort to provide more resources for students. The other businesses include: NBC Universal and GE Consumer and Industrial.

"While the focus of the project is centered around the healthcare industry, we know offering the resources and expertise of NBC Universal and GE Consumer and Industrial will be great in urging the students to really think 'outside the box' for home healthcare in the future," said Doug Dietz, HQ Design Studio Manager at GE Healthcare. "Improving the quality of life by providing healthcare everywhere is not only a vision of GE Healthcare but its something that all of the GE businesses can have a say in."

In addition to being present for the project's first day kickoff, GE representatives will meet with the students for a mid-term progress review as well as attend the final presentation on the last day of the project, recognized as "Super Thursday." Throughout the term, the student teams will also be able to arrange time to meet with the GE employees for additional mentoring and consulting.

"During a time when healthcare issues are a national focus, this project will allow the students to use interdisciplinary design research to develop products and processes that can at least, in part, look at ways to solve the issue," stated Martin C. Smith, Chair, Product Design. "Working with GE Healthcare presents our students with a unique opportunity to work with experts in the field to explore healthcare and diagnostic equipment."