The Schatz Energy Research Center at Humboldt State University is one of the centers of ground-breaking researching in alternative energy methods. However, its current location is not sufficient for its growing needs, and as such a new building needs to be designed with particular energy saving goals in-mind. The new building should be a state-of-the-art living and working embodiment of the Center's mission to promote the use of clean and renewable energy. The building should also meet LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Platinum certification, the highest standard set by the US Green Building Council. This project succeeded in investigating a reference case design and alternative energy-saving designs using ENERGY-10 software and mathematical models. As well, building energy use was simulated using historical hourly weather data for Arcata, California, in the particular orientation in which the new building will be situated.

Many models have been developed to predict sediment transport in order to understand bedload movement on river beds. Using data gathered from flume experiments, this project determined which model best predicts sediment transport under constant hydraulic conditions. The researchers experimentally evaluated several models and determined the conditions under which they were most accurate in predicting sediment transport. Also, since flume models had not accounted for variability of data under constant hydraulic conditions between a series of runs, the researchers evaluated some such models using flume experiments, allowing better understanding of the variability that exists between flume runs and the predicted outcome of the models. The results allowed accounting for the variability caused by turbulence between runs and improving the models.

Flows are diverted from many rivers and streams for human use or consumption, and fish screening has become a common practice in fisheries to reduce fish losses in these diversions. However, there has been very limited study of how effective fish screens are in preventing fish loss to entrainment. This study modified the trout model inSTREAM (Individual-Based Stream Trout Research and Assessment Model) by adding a new mortality type, called entrainment mortality. The probability that a fish is more vulnerable due to entrainment is related to its distance from the diversion site, its length, and its ability to survive entrainment. Experiments were also conducted on the maximum flow allowed to be diverted from a stream, and the minimum water required to be left in the stream. An analysis of variance was performed to identify the most significant parameters in the response of the trout population.

The first stage of software development, functional requirements specification, is considered the most important stage in the software lifecycle. Requirements constructed in this stage affect all other stages of the lifecycle, and thus affect software quality. This project formulated a method for determining how functional requirements affect software quality. The researchers utilized a functional modeling framework that included a controlled language for requirements specification and assessed software qualities. Then they applied an information entropy metric to measure the significance of each requirement statement. Ultimately, using the proposed method the designer may identify which requirements, when implemented, will most affect software quality.