Gal deBotton is a professor of Mechanical Engineering at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania in 1993. His research focuses on the mechanics of nonlinear solids undergoing finite deformations, such as biological tissues. He is particularly interested in the relationship between the underlying microstructure of these stretchable materials and their apparent macroscopic behavior. Gal also explores how these materials respond to non-mechanical excitations like electrostatic or thermal effects. Recently, he has pioneered the use of a statistical mechanics approach to explore the origins of the electro-elastic coupling in polymer networks.