News Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NR-11-02-26-NobleDeep
November 2, 2026

Student's Startup Wins Ocean Exchange Award

Andrew Jimenez, a College of the Canyons electrical engineering student and CEO of Noble Deep, is making waves in the world of underwater robotics.

Jimenez, the sole community college student among 10 finalists from colleges and universities across the nation, received the $10,000 Oceaneering Collegiate Award on behalf of Noble Deep at the 2026 Ocean Exchange event held Oct. 25-27 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

At the event, Jimenez presented “Casper,” the autonomous underwater vehicle being built by the Noble Deep team to continuously monitor subsea infrastructure such as pipelines, power cables, and offshore wind foundations.

"Being named a Collegiate Award finalist was already an honor, so I'm thrilled that Noble Deep won the Oceaneering Collegiate Award,” said Jimenez. “It shows our vision resonates with people across the blue economy, and our team will keep building Casper."

The prize money will go toward building Casper and the charging station that operates alongside it, added Jimenez.

“Our goal is a working demonstrator, which we'll use to secure pilot projects,” said the sophomore student.

Jimenez’s interest in underwater robotics began in fall 2025 when he joined COC's Honors Transfer Research Council. His research project, titled "A Novel Robotic Approach for the Extraction of Manganese Nodules on the Seafloor,” explored ways to reduce the environmental impacts of deep-sea mining.

“I was originally interested in deep-sea mining, because I was concerned that the methods companies were proposing could harm an environment we hardly understand,” said Jimenez. “Digging into that problem is what got me interested in autonomous underwater vehicles, and it laid the foundation for Noble Deep.”

Jimenez says he learned about Ocean Exchange Collegiate Award through LinkedIn.

“Someone in my network liked one of their posts, and when I looked into the organization, I saw they ran a collegiate award program,” said Jimenez. “I decided to give it a shot and apply.”

Currently a three-person operation, Noble Deep is led by Jimenez, his brother, who is a 2023 COC alumnus and the company’s co-founder and chief technology officer, and a software engineer who is a UC Irvine student.

Jimenez will continue his studies at COC while running Noble Deep and hopes to transfer to UC Berkeley—his top choice school—in fall 2027 to study electrical engineering.

Paloma Vargas, interim dean of the School of Mathematics, Sciences and Engineering at the college, says Andrew’s innovation reflects the creativity, drive, and concern for the environment that many COC engineering students share.

“We are very proud of Andrew,” said Vargas. “He turned his concern for a delicate ecosystem into a project that maintains human interest and prioritizes environmental stewardship. What makes his accomplishment especially impressive is that he transformed a research interest into a startup company and an award-winning technology concept in less than a year.”

The five Ocean Exchange Collegiate Award recipients were selected by delegates representing business, academia, government and nonprofit organizations based on the impact, innovation and feasibility of their proposed solutions.

Ocean Exchange is a global organization dedicated to accelerating innovative solutions that support healthy oceans and a sustainable blue economy. The organization provides monetary awards, connects innovators with industry experts and promotes breakthrough technologies worldwide.