I am a visiting researcher at Brandeis University studying geometric group theory.  My work focuses on generalizations of hyperbolicity, including acylindrical and hierarchical hyperbolicity, and structural properties of groups, including finite quotients and decidability properties. I am particularly interested in Artin groups.

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.