I am a geometric group theorist.  My work focuses on generalizations of hyperbolicity, including acylindrical and hierarchical hyperbolicity. I am particularly interested in Artin groups. I will be starting a postdoctoral position at UPV/EHU in Bilbao in Spring of 2026.

I received my PhD from Brandeis University in August of 2025. My supervisor was Carolyn Abbott. My thesis constructs an analogue of the marking graph, originally defined for surfaces, for finite-type Artin groups. It also contains a background section which provides a gentle introduction to combinatorial hierarchical hyperbolicity for readers familiar with the mapping class group. It is available here.

My CV is available here, and my research statement is available here.

Note: My legal name is Kaitlin Ragosta Hughes (middle name Ragosta, surname Hughes), but I use my maiden name for professional purposes.