Brian Johnstone and Colin Doody
Doody, a master's degree student in game design and development and Johnstone, a fifth year software engineering major, both in the B. Thomas Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences, had been interested in developing 3-D programming in conjunction with their own research when they were approached by RIT professors Richard Doolittle, director of biomedical sciences, and Paul Craig, professor of chemistry, both from the College of Science. Doolittle and Craig were looking for assistance in developing a software package for use in their Human Visualization Project (HVP). Doody and Johnstone created a prototype that allowed for rapid 3-D visualization of different organs. It was ultimately incorporated into a virtual tour of the pancreas, which HVP developed and then presented to Merck Pharmaceutical, the National Science Foundation, and numerous other businesses and organizations.
The success of the effort convinced Doody and Johnstone that they could create a visualization program that would improve on the current technology available and be usable in a wide variety of applications. They sought help from the Simone Center to begin development of their business idea, and ultimately incorporated in October of 2007. Now located in the Venture Creations incubator, Dark Wind has grown rapidly. On top of their continued work with HVP, they are providing software development support to RIT's Digital Imaging and Remote Sensing Lab as well as doing freelance work for the American Cancer Society. The company now has four employees and currently utilizes a co-op student provided by RIT's Saunders College of Business.
Doody and Johnstone's success exemplifies how quickly a good idea can lead to profit, especially when the infrastructure and support are present to help students take the next step.