After defending my dissertation at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) working under the advisement of Jon McCammond, I moved back home to teach as a faculty member at Hawai`i Community College.

Though my research interests have been put on pause due to a heavy teaching load, I still enjoy thinking about questions in the field of Geometric Group Theory (GGT), but more specifically in areas of GGT that allow for the use of algebraic, geometric, and combinatorial techniques. In particular, I am interested in Coxeter groups and Artin groups. I've worked on writing algorithms that solve the word problem for Euclidean Artin groups. I also enjoy analyzing the efficacy of various pedagogical endeavors like mathematical writing courses and transition to proofs courses.

I was supported through graduate school, in large part thanks to the Ford Fellowship Foundation who awarded me a predoctoral fellowship, and the UCSB Graduate Division who awarded me the Eugene Cota-Robles Fellowship.

In 2019, I was honored with the UCSB Academic Senate Outstanding Teaching Award as well as the UCSB Graduate Student Association Excellence in Teaching Award. In 2020, I received the Outstanding Teaching Assistant award from the UCSB Department of Mathematics.

I also work remotely as an educational consultant for various projects at the College Board. I can be reached at kalaulia@hawaii.edu for more information.