Eric Mukherjee

Eric Mukherjee
Noted subjects	General, History, Science, Mythology, and Comic Books
Past colleges	Brown (2007-2009), University of Pennsylvania (2010-2018)
High school	Washburn Rural High School
HSQB profile	Sima Guang Hater
Pronouns	he/him
Stats	HDWhite • NAQT

Eric Mukherjee is a longtime player, editor, and quizbowl coach.

Eric began playing as an undergraduate at Brown in 2006, serving as second scorer during several second-place finishes at ACF Nationals, before leading the Penn team for several years as a medical and graduate student. He was consistently ranked among the top 10 modern-era college quizbowlers in a number of individual player rankings throughout the 2010s and held 2nd place in the player poll for 5 consecutive years. He is usually considered the best overall science player of the modern era, with secondary strengths in history and myth.

Playing Career

Undergraduate

Eric was previously a student at Brown, where he served as vice president of the club after randomly running into Jerry Vinokurov in the mailroom. Alongside Jerry, Eric helped the team to 2nd place at 2007 ACF Nationals and 2008 ACF Nationals.

After he and more level-headed teammate Dennis Jang almost spontaneously combusted due to the sheer amount of funn in 2007 Moon Pie, they resolved to write a good tournament and to punish the MIT team who wrote the set. They accomplished this with the second EFT set and Deep Bench 2007 at Brandeis respectively.

Alongside Matt Weiner, Jerry Vinokurov, and Jonathan Magin, Eric won the 2008 Chicago Open. With Ted Gioia, Dallas Simons, and Jerry Vinokurov, he placed 2nd at the 2009 Chicago Open while tying Vinokurov in scoring.

Interviews for medical school prevented Eric from attending either national championship in 2009.

Graduate

Eric's first several years at Penn saw a decrease in involvement due to the rigors of medical school. After placing 2nd at the 2010 ICT and 6th at ACF Nats (one place behind his alma mater Brown), Eric missed the entire 2011 nationals season within the death grip of a hospital ward (as a student, not a patient). In 2012, Eric pulled an otherwise D2 squad of Saajid Moyen, Patrick Liao, and James Lasker to 4th place at 2012 ACF Nationals and 11th at ICT.

After gaining Dallas Simons, a Penn team led by Eric would place 3rd at the 2013 ICT, 2014 ICT, and 2014 ACF Nationals and 4th at the 2013 ACF Nationals. Dallas would be replaced by Chris Chiego in the 2014-2015 season when Penn won 2nd at 2015 ICT and 1st at 2015 ACF Nationals, the only championship to date for both Eric and the Penn team. During this championship run, Eric adopted a strategy of casually eating an apple during tournaments to regain focus. Eric also wrote a micro-history of the ACF Nationals Final describing the experience.

After winning the title, Penn continued to be a top bracket regular - alongside Jaimie Carlson, JinAh Kim, Paul Lee, Max Smiley, Aidan Mehigan and others, Eric placed 7th at 2016 ICT, 7th at 2017 ACF Nationals, 4th at 2018 ICT, and 2nd at 2018 ACF Nationals.

Because Eric was ill during SCT, Penn did not qualify for the 2017 ICT; they were not awarded a wildcard bid.

Outside of his playing career, Eric also became a regular moderator at a number of high school events in Philadelphia beyond the Penn Quaker Fall Open tournaments.

Apart from his leadership of Penn A, Eric also contributed to winning teams at Chicago Open in 2012, 2014, and 2016 - the 2014 win saw him replace Dennis Loo to earn Virginia their Triple Crown.

Post-Graduate Playing Career

After completing his studies at Penn, Eric moved to Vanderbilt University Medical Center for residency, and subsequently joined the faculty as a postdoctoral researcher and attending physician in the Department of Dermatology. During that time, he has continued playing tournaments like Chicago Open (obtaining his fifth win in 2024). He was partly responsible for spearheading the creation of the IQBT Undergraduate Championship Tournament, was elected ACF's Editor-In-Chief for the 2024-5 competition season, and has continued to contribute to many other sets at both the high school and college level. Additionally, he also frequently moderates for local Tennessee college, high school, and middle school events as needed.

In April 2020, Eric confessed to cheating at the 2020 Terrapin Open Discord Mirror. Notably, he had denied the allegations until confronted with convincing statistical evidence. As a result, he was banned from ACF tournaments for a year, though this will only be relevant if he decides to pursue further education. As part of his apology to the community, he paid the entry fee for all other teams and engaged in a year-long ban from other tournaments; this elapsed in early 2021 and he has since resumed playing open tournaments.

Coaching

Eric was also recruited to coach the high school team at the University School of Nashville in the 2022-3 season. The team has enjoyed some success during his tenure, including two state championships, high finishes at SSNCT (qualifying 3 teams for the playoffs in 2024 and winning 4th), and a T21 finish at HSNCT. To no one's surprise, he brings a distinctly aggressive, Jerry-esque, early-to-mid-2010s college quizbowl approach to coaching. Additionally, because of his strong emphasis on writing, his students have contributed to several high school and college sets (including one earning a 2024 ACF Fall editing position).

Writing/Editing Work

Eric is regarded as one of the best and most prolific science writers in modern quiz bowl, having contributed significantly to the current standards of science questions. He has also written a guide on tournament writing. In 2024, he was elected Editor-in-Chief of ACF. A complete list of his writing can be found here.