Cadet James Brahm named Rhodes Scholar
MADISON – Cadet 1st Class James Brahm from Huntsville has been named a Rhodes Scholar.
Brahm, a Cadet at the U.S. Air Force Academy, was chosen from among 880 applicants at 281 colleges and universities throughout the country.
Brahm joins 40 fellow cadets in academy history to receive Rhodes Scholarships, which provide for all expenses for two or three years of study at the University of Oxford in England.
In June 2015, Brahm entered the U.S. Air Force Academy with a major in computer science and a minor in Chinese, along with nuclear weapons and strategy.
He holds the title of a 2018 Harry S. Truman Scholar. Brahm conducts research at the intersection of cybersecurity and computer science and has a computer-science related patent pending with the U.S. Patent Office.
Brahm commands the Wing Information Services Team, which is responsible for ensuring IT support to more than 4,000 cadets. Throughout his undergraduate career, he has worked extensively in cybersecurity, including a stint as an intern at the National Security Agency, where he engineered reusable software to support U.S. intelligence efforts.
In years past, he worked for approximately one year as a researcher at QC Ware Corporation in Palo Alto, Calif. At Dynetics Inc. in Huntsville, Brahm worked as a malware researcher for about one year.
At Oxford, he will pursue a master’s degree in computer science. (usafa.org/news/2019rhodes)
In another distinction, he was chosen for Stamps Leadership Scholars, which the Stamps Family Charitable Foundation and the USAFA Endowment created. The Stamps Leadership Scholars program offers opportunities for summer research, internships and cultural immersion experiences around the world to cadets with demonstrated leadership abilities and proven academic performance.
The Rhodes Scholarship, established in 1902 in the will of British philanthropist Cecil Rhodes, covers all costs for two or three years of study at Oxford. Winners are selected based on high academic achievement, personal integrity and leadership potential, among other attributes.
The 2019 Rhodes Scholar class will begin their classes at Oxford in October 2019.