Nichole M. Bauer is an associate professor of political communication in the Department of Political Science and the LSU Manship School of Mass Communication. She conducts research on gender and politics, specifically focusing on how strategic political communication affects the way voters form impressions about women in politics. Her research has been published in a variety of journals including the Journal of Politics, Political Psychology, Political Behavior and Politics, Groups, and Identities, among other outlets. She is the author of “The Qualifications Gap: Why Women Must be Better than Men to Win Political Office.” She also edited “Politicking While Female: The Political Lives of Women,” a collection of essays highlighting research on the challenges women face in politics. The “Politicking While Female” project came out of the Reilly Center’s 2019 Breaux Symposium.