Significant opportunities to broaden the participation of all Americans in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) are elements of the increasingly global STEM enterprise: ideally, a human bridge between science and society. While minority-serving institutions play a significant role in the education and development of underrepresented minority students in the natural and physical sciences, a challenge lies in the absence of systematic knowledge on how and why these institutions have been able to sustain their success for decades. A program track for Education Research projects in the National Science Foundation (NSF) Historically Black Colleges and Universities Undergraduate Program (HBCU-UP) was launched in 2006. The project focus is on evidence-based research studies that contribute to advancing our understanding of how to broaden the participation and propel or sustain success for underrepresented groups in the STEM enterprise. That research community poses as an excellent resource to allow us to learn important questions to pursue innovative research designs, mixed research methodologies, and implementation challenges. Session participants will share project goals and discuss research designs, best practices, challenges, and preliminary findings as well as consider how the outcomes might guide future directions in the NSF program. We anticipate productive scholarly debate and contribute to the understanding of research and best practices in professional development within undergraduate S&E education.