UC Santa Barbara
| University of California, Santa Barbara | |
| |
|---|---|
| Location: Santa Barbara, California | |
| Current President or Coach | Erica Wang |
| National championships | none |
| NAQT Page | link |
The University of California, Santa Barbara, commonly abbreviated UCSB, is a public university in Santa Barbara, California. Although active on the Southern California circuit from 2017 to 2019, UCSB Quizbowl became defunct during the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2023, Lawrence Lo re-organized UCSB Quizbowl and purchased the club's first buzzer set, but UCSB did not attend any tournaments under Lo's leadership. Erica Wang succeeded Lo as president in 2024 and oversaw a revival of the club, catalyzed by the arrival of eventual club record scorers Dmitri Anh-Minh Tran, known mononymously as AMT, and Winston Zuo, neither of whom had previously played competitive quizbowl. The phoenix club's first tournament was 2025 SCT online at ASU, where UCSB defied the expectations of naysayers such as Denis Liu to win three games. A team composed of Ashlee Bacconi, Dash Daniels, AMT, and Winston became the first ever UCSB team to qualify for a national tournament by earning a wildcard spot in the October 2025 IQBT qualifiers. Ashlee, Dash, Alec GeoSimonian, and AMT became the first to represent UCSB on a national stage at 2026 UCT.
UCSB maintains fraternal relations with ASU, having sent mixed teams to several tournaments.
National Results
- 25th place at 2026 IQBT Undergraduate Championship Final Standings
Current Players (2026)
- Dmitri Anh-Minh Tran
- Erica Wang
- Ashlee Bacconi
- Dash Daniels
- Alec GeoSimonian
- Ved Pradhan
- Nathan Silverman
- Anthony Woo
- Srinivasan Arumugham
Former Players
- Winston Zuo
- Rakesh "Rocky" Kavuri
- Sansar Yogi
- James Scherrer (former club record scorer)
- Jessica Gang
- Alex Salcido