Equivariant local coefficients and the RO(G)-graded cohomology of classifying spaces

This thesis consists of two main parts. In the second part, we recall how a description of local coefficients that Eilenberg introduced in the 1940s leads to spectral sequences for the computation of homology and cohomology with local coefficients. We then show how to construct new equivariant analogues of these spectral sequences for RO(G)-graded Bredon homology and cohomology. Finally, we use these spectral sequences to complete a sample calculation, in which we use the equivariant Serre spectral sequence and the equivariant cohomology of complex projective spaces to compute the cohomology of the equivariant classifying space B_Cp O(2). However, to complete this sample computation, we need to know the cohomology of complex projective space. This calculation was done in a 1988 paper by Gaunce Lewis, but relies on a theorem whose proof as given was incorrect. We spend the first part of this thesis providing a correct proof and summarizing the results of Lewis's paper.