My research journey interweaves three core themes: understanding youth and young adult development in diverse contexts, advancing equitable teaching practices, and fostering critical engagement with science.
Understanding Teen and Young Adult Development
My research trajectory began as a research intern for a maternal addiction treatment study. This foundational experience shaped my interest in how family and community factors influence youth and young adult development, leading to me returning to school for a Ph.D. in Human Development & Family Studies at Michigan State University. Currently, I’m expanding this focus through multiple projects examining moral development, critical thinking, and socialization practices in diverse families.
Critical Engagement with Science
Through my research presentations and published work, I contribute to conversations about humanizing developmental science and creating empathy-centered learning environments.
Advancing Equitable Teaching
My teaching philosophy emerged from extensive experience in both formal and community education settings. From designing college preparation curricula for out-of-school time programs to facilitating conference workshops, I’ve consistently worked to create interdisciplinary learning experiences that balance knowledge and learner-centered strategies. The Future Academic Scholars in Teaching (FAST) Fellowship has provided a platform to develop and study innovative teaching interventions for undergraduate education.
Future Directions
Moving forward, my research agenda aims to integrate these themes by examining how educational environments can better support diverse learners while advancing our understanding of development in context. This work is enhanced by my technical expertise in data analytics and instructional design, allowing for innovative approaches to both research and teaching.
Current Projects
College Student Study
PI: Dr. Deborah J. Johnson
Uncovering patterns in ethno-gendered experiences and identity stress coping strategies of Black students adjusting to life on predominately white college campuses in the U.S.
Teaching Towards Consciousness
PI: Danielle M. Cadet, M.Ed.; Dr. Rome D. Meeks
An exploratory mixed methods investigation of transformative social empathy in undergraduate social science education
Conference Presentations
Cadet, D. M. (2025, June). Building Critical Metacognition: A Framework for Developing Sociopolitical Awareness [Research Presentation]. Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues Conference, Portland, OR.
Cadet, D. M. & Meeks, R. D. (2025, June). Teaching Towards Consciousness: Creating Empathy-Centered Learning Environments [Research Presentation]. Society for Community Research and Action 20th Biennial Community Psychology Conference, East Lansing, MI.
Cadet, D. M. (2025, April). Humanizing Development: Cultivating Critical Engagement with Developmental Science [SRCD Developmental Science Teaching Institute Workshop]. Society for Research on Child Development Biannual Meeting, Minneapolis, MN.
This workshop is a bridge between knowing where to start and knowing how to keep going. During this session, participants review tools to recognize learning within its sociopolitical context and as a sociopolitical context, Drawing from Phillip & Sengupta’s work on disciplinary authenticity (2021), we take stock of and engage with the histories of power that run through the veins of our theories of learning” and “account for how “designs and theories of learning […] creates, reifies, alters, refines, and transforms” realities” (p. 334). Through these reflections, we discuss positionality as a real position within a space and exchange prejudice with understanding and acceptance to create space for students to show up authentically in the classroom, thereby developing a lens for inviting students to connect their lived experiences with the course content to deepen their relationship to it.
Bibbs, S. E., Cadet, D. M., Johnson, D.J., & Smith, E.P. (2024, April). Raising Strong Roots: Proactive, Innovative, and Culturally Centered Parenting Strategies in the Face of Discrimination [Inclusion, Equity, Social Justice (IESJ) Poster Session]. Society for Research on Adolescence Biannual Meeting, Chicago, IL.
Caregivers’ socialization goals and strategies are informed by their cultural identities, experiences, values, and worldviews (Raj & Raval, 2013). Black caregivers raise their children within a cultural context unique to their social and economic location. Through various parenting practices, they impart lessons to their children to help them navigate this context. This study presents a grounded theory exploring the nuances in Black parents’ socialization strategies by surfacing core themes in their messages, practices, and intentions.
Guest Lectures
Parenting | Michigan State Dept. of Human Development and Family Studies
Gendered Racial Socialization and Identity Development in Adolescence (Fall 2024; Spring 2025)
Diverse Families in America | Michigan State Dept. of Human Development and Family Studies
Education, Power & Assimilation (Spring 2024)
Waves of Immigration (Spring 2024)
Immigration Policy: Past, Present, & Future (Spring 2024; Fall 2024)
Social Work & Immigration (Spring 2024; Fall 2024)
Published Work
Reyes, H. L., Mills, K. J., Cadet, D. M., & Johnson, D. J. (2024). Latina and Black women collegians’ paternal relationships: a Chicana and Black feminist interpretive phenomenological analysis. Education Sciences, 14(7), 749.
Manuscripts in Progress
Cadet, D. M. (2025) Ideological to interpersonal: collaborative pedagogies as counter-hegemonic practice. In Preparation.
Cadet, D. M., Meeks, R.D. (2025) Teaching towards consciousness: critical self-knowledge in social science education. In Preparation.
Cadet, D. M., Bibbs, S.E., Hughes-Barrow, T., Meeks, R.D. (2025) Transforming disillusionment into agency: critical consciousness as a tool for reconciling protective socialization and youth autonomy. In Preparation.
D. M. Cadet 