Joseph Mayo Pettit (July 15, 1916 – September 15, 1986) was an engineer and the president of the Georgia Institute of Technology from 1972 to 1986.
[1] He then joined the World War II radar countermeasures project at the Radio Research Laboratory of Harvard University.
Following the war effort, Pettit became supervising engineer with Airborne Instruments Laboratory in New York.
[3] During his 14-year tenure as president, Pettit was credited with turning Georgia Tech into a top tier research institution.
[5][8] A total of $202.7 million was raised during the Centennial Campaign, which was Georgia Tech's first major fundraising effort.
[6] Pettit also oversaw Georgia Tech's application and admittance into the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC), an athletic league founded in 1953 which included seven charter members.
[12] Pettit was awarded the President's Certificate of Merit in 1949 for his contributions during World War II.
[1] He was named a Fellow of the Institute of Radio Engineers (now part of IEEE) in 1954 and served on that organization's board of directors from 1954 to 1955.