Lieutenant Erin Whitlam
Name Erin Catherine Whitlam PhD
Position Section Chief - Astrometrics
Rank Lieutenant
Character Information
| Gender | Female | |
| Species | Human | |
| Age | 25 |
Physical Appearance
| Height | 163cm | |
| Weight | 55kg | |
| Hair Color | Brown | |
| Eye Color | Hazel | |
| Physical Description | She has long, brown hair that she usually wears in a loose ponytail. She has a natural expression that often makes her look disinterested, which belies her intense curiosity about most things. She has a sharp nose and a firm, almost severe mouth that can crack into a radiant smile at any moment. |
Family
| Father | Captain Julius Whitlam (Deceased) | |
| Mother | Professor Zoe Burnham | |
| Brother(s) | Joseph Whitlam (Born 2371) | |
| Sister(s) | Elouisa Whitlam (Born 2368) |
Personality & Traits
| General Overview | Erin is generally introverted and quiet, but carries herself with a strong confidence that can sometimes be misinterpreted as arrogance. She never doubts her own strengths, but will never boast or seek to minimise those around her. Though she will usually spend most of her time working, researching or otherwise expanding her knowledge of the universe, she does know how to unwind and relax in the company of friends. She makes friends easily enough, although her interest in making new friends is limited and she tends to avoid close entanglements. She has a habit of talking to herself, usually as a way to calm her agitation at some perceived slight or disappointment. |
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| Strengths & Weaknesses | + Intelligent + Critical thinker + Decisive + Driven - can be too engrossed in the task at hand - finds working in a team environment difficult - stubborn - emotional detachment |
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| Ambitions | She is intensely curious about the universe and wants to know more about it. She wants to advance knowledge of the universe and be remembered as a pioneer. | |
| Hobbies & Interests | Erin plays the violin with a reasonable level of proficiency. She also practices jujutsu and plays water polo. She has a keen interest in history, particularly the history of the Federation at war. She likes to relax by reading a history text or some new account of an old conflict like the Tzenkethi War or the Romulan War. |
| Personal History | Erin was born in 2366 aboard the USS Fairfax, which was travelling at warp between Andor and Vulcan. Her father, Julius Whitlam, was captain of the Fairfax at the time, while her mother was a civilian scientist. Erin spent the first four years of her life aboard the Fairfax, with occasional visits to countless planets in the Federation. Though she doesn’t remember much of her time, she does have fond memories of running and screaming with joy as her father chased her down the ship’s corridors. One memory she does retain, however, was when her and her entire family were almost killed when the Fairfax was destroyed in 2370. Most of the crew were able to evacuate after an attack by Tzenkethi ships, but Erin, her family and the other survivors drifted for five days in lifeboats awaiting rescue. After this near miss, Erin’s parents decided it was safer to raise her and her sister, 2-year-old Elouise, in a terrestrial environment rather than aboard a starship. So Erin found herself being moved to Cestus III and for the first time in her life lived under an open sky. The family lived in Cestus for three years while Julius commanded the USS Sutherland, which operated in the region. Her father was away a lot and Erin missed him deeply, but even at that age she understood that her dad had an important job to do. In 2373, the family relocated to Earth where they lived in San Francisco while her mother taught at Berkeley University. Not long after they moved in, the Dominion War broke out and her father was taken away once again. All of seven years old, Erin had a strong, if generalised, understanding of what was going on and she still remembers fearing for her father’s life. Her memories of the war were mostly of being afraid for her father until the war came to San Francisco when the Breen attacked in 2375. Erin’s school was hit, but fortunately there was nobody there at the time. She remembers being afraid and angry while the attack was taking place and her mother huddled with her, her sister and her baby brother in the basement of their house in Berkeley Hills. Later that year came the news that rocked Erin and her family to the core. Her father was killed in action during the Battle of Cardassia. She remembers her mother telling her the news. They were alone; her mother wanted to tell Erin on her own, rather than with Elouise and Joe. Erin remembers going numb and a high-pitch whine in her ear as the news crashed down on her. She didn’t cry at first, determined to be strong because that’s what dad would have wanted. She hugged her mother, clinging to her for the longest time. When her mother left the room, she put her face in her pillow and cried for hours. She was nine years old when her father died and she remembers feeling like she needed to be strong for the family, for her mother and for the memory of her father. Although the death of a parent is not something one just gets over, Erin did learn to move on. She resolved early on to follow her father into Starfleet, but she wanted to be a scientist like her mother. She had two great interests in her teenage years – science and politics. Science appealed to her natural curiosity, while politics appealed to her desire for answers about why her father and countless others were fighting the Dominion War. After completing high school, she took the Starfleet entrance exams and aced them. She was accepted into Starfleet Academy and gleefully packed her bags to move across the Bay. She graduated in 2389, having majored in Astrophysics with a double minor in Subspace Mechanics and Conflict Studies, and was posted to Starbase 208. While there, Ensign Whitlam began her field-based PhD studies. Her thesis, which had the eye-catching title of Subspace Eddies are Coming to Get You, proposed a new theory for predicting the path of subspace eddies. It was a paper that, in Erin’s words, “went through the establishment like a supernova,” and has so far stood up to peer review. Her paper was published in all the major scientific journals and got her noticed by several faculties in the civilian world. But Erin rejected all offers and remained determined on a career in Starfleet. Following her promotion to Lieutenant Junior Grade, which came with the PhD, she was assigned as a planning officer at the Office of Science Operations in Geneva. Living back on Earth and seeing her mother, sister and brother was nice for about three months, but Erin found herself itching to get back into space. Her work at SciOps, planning scientific expeditions that would gather evidence to support or dispute her own theory, was interesting, but not what she wanted to do. She wanted to move on to something else; she wanted to get back into the field. She spoke with her supervisor, who suggested sniffing around the Galactic South for opportunities. A visit to the Office of Personnel later and she was offered a position on a frontier Starbase. |
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| Service Record | 2385 – 2389: Cadet, Starfleet Academy 2389 – 2391: Science Officer, Starbase 208 (ENS) 2391 – 2392: Planning Officer, Office of Science Ops (LTJG) 2392 – Pres: Science Officer, Starbase 332 (LTJG) |