Like RobertHale said, a good sketch goes a long way.
Figure out how much of the roof area the strut will support.
If the strut is supporting a single rafter, its tributary area will be half of that rafter's.
If the strut is supporting a beam that supports rafter (an underpurlin), figure out...
I've only been working as an engineer for 5 years, so I still remember being new fairly clearly.
Assume their college skipped or skimmed a LOT of topics, like load paths, timber design in general, torsion, wind load calcs, snow load calcs, etc.
Set very clear expectations. If you need them to...
Have you checked 1607.12 in the IBC? The section is on roof loads, and includes reductions in roof live loads depending on the layout of the roof. That might get you low enough to not disregard that load combination you see as "absurd".
