If you want a projecct which is less technical but with world wide potential use in the Third World as well as in the U.S. and other more developed countries, you can test straw bale walls in shear (lateral loads from wind and EQ)- using cement plaster and also with mud/lime plaster.
see Straw Bale for info. or contact me. I have built some.
Stan Scholl
Laguna Beach, CA