On August 1, 1922, Brittain was elected president of the Georgia School of Technology (Georgia Tech). During his tenure, Brittain was able to convince the state of Georgia to increase funding for the Institute. He had noted in the 1923 annual report that "there are more students in Georgia Tech than in any other two colleges in Georgia, and we have the smallest appropriation of them all." Additionally, a $300,000 grant (equivalent to $ in ) from the Guggenheim Foundation allowed Brittain to establish the David Guggenheim School of Aeronautics at Georgia Tech. In 1930, Brittain's decision to use the money for a School of Aeronautics was controversial; today, the David Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering boasts the second largest faculty in the United States behind MIT.