Effective August 15, Pritchett will become the new head of the Aerospace Engineering Department at Penn State, where Johnson will join the faculty. Their departure marks the end of a two-decade association with Georgia Tech for Pritchett and Johnson, who are married.

"This is bittersweet for the AE School," said AE School Chair Dr. Vigor Yang, himself, a former Penn State professor. "The rigor and vision that Dr. Pritchett and Dr. Johnson bring to their respective disciplines is without peer. They have contributed enormously to the AE School's legacy. But as much as we will sorely miss them, we are proud of what they shared with us during their tenure at Tech and look forward to collaborating with them in the future."

Pritchett holds the David S. Lewis Professorship in the AE School and a joint appointment in the Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering. She is the founding director of the Georgia Tech Cognitive Engineering Center.

Johnson holds the Lockheed Martin Avionics Integration Professorship in the AE School and heads up the Georgia Tech UAV Research Facility.