ECE Corporate Advisory Council Member
Clint Cole
System Engineer
Real Digital
Clint Cole is an engineer, educator, and entrepreneur whose work has profoundly shaped hands-on learning in electrical and computer engineering. A graduate of Washington State University, where he earned both his B.S. in Computer Science and M.S. in Electrical Engineering, Clint began his career as a paramedic before moving into engineering and co-founding Heartstream, a pioneering medical device company that developed one of the first portable defibrillators and was later acquired by Philips. As a faculty member in WSU’s School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, he recognized the need for affordable, practical tools that would allow students to learn by doing—an insight that led him to co-found Digilent, Inc.
As President of Digilent, Clint guided the company’s growth into a global provider of low-cost, student-focused design kits that revolutionized engineering education worldwide. Today, he continues his mission to expand access to experiential learning through Real Digital, a company based in Pullman, Washington, that develops digital design systems and educational tools for students and instructors. Throughout his career, Clint Cole has combined innovation, education, and entrepreneurship to empower the next generation of engineers.