Noble Deep Wins $10,000 Oceaneering Collegiate Award
A College of the Canyons student's underwater robotics startup received the prize at the 2026 Ocean Exchange event in Florida.
Updated on Nov. 2, 2026 in Scholarships
Live Poll
Should the U.S. government do more to support student-led ocean technology startups?
Noble Deep, led by College of the Canyons electrical engineering student Andrew Jimenez, received the $10,000 Oceaneering Collegiate Award at the 2026 Ocean Exchange event held October 25-27 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Jimenez was the only community college student among 10 finalists.
Why it matters
The award gives the three-person startup funding to advance Casper, an autonomous underwater vehicle designed to monitor subsea infrastructure. For Santa Clarita residents, it highlights a local community college student competing against larger universities in a specialized engineering field.
The $10,000 prize is the award's cash value, and Jimenez was the sole community college student among 10 finalists. The source does not specify the timeline for completing Casper or the planned charging station.
The players
Andrew Jimenez
An electrical engineering student at College of the Canyons and CEO of Noble Deep, who was motivated to pursue autonomous underwater vehicles by concerns over the environmental impact of proposed deep-sea mining.
Noble Deep
A three-person underwater robotics startup developing autonomous underwater vehicles for subsea infrastructure monitoring and seafloor resource research.
The details
Jimenez learned of the Ocean Exchange Collegiate Award through LinkedIn after someone in his network liked an event post, and he applied. He presented Casper, which is built to monitor pipelines, power cables, and offshore wind foundations, and his research project examined a robotic approach to extracting manganese nodules from the seafloor.
Timeline
Fall 2025: Jimenez joined COC's Honors Transfer Research Council.
October 25-27, 2026: Ocean Exchange event held in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
Fall 2027: Jimenez hopes to transfer to UC Berkeley to study electrical engineering.
Season Trajectory
Autonomous underwater vehicles are increasingly used to inspect pipelines, power cables, and offshore wind foundations as subsea infrastructure grows. Noble Deep's Casper enters this field as a student-built platform aimed at that monitoring work.
Students at Santa Clarita community colleges can see a path from local coursework to national competitions with cash prizes. The award shows that transfer students pursuing specialized engineering fields can compete alongside university applicants.
The takeaway
Community college students can pursue ambitious technical projects while completing transfer pathways. Students who discover competitions through professional networks like LinkedIn may find funding and visibility that supports early-stage ventures.
Further reading
Explore more local Scholarships coverage for students in Santa Clarita pursuing competitive engineering programs.
Source note: This article includes information reported by Hometown Station | KHTS FM 98.1 & AM 1220.
Live Poll
Should the U.S. government do more to support student-led ocean technology startups?
