  College-aged students are one of the most vulnerable populations to high-risk
alcohol drinking behaviors that could cause them consequences such as injury or
sexual assault. An important factor that may influence college students'
decision on alcohol drinking behavior is socializing at certain contexts across
university environment. The present study aims to identify and better
understand ecological conditions driving the dynamics of distribution of
alcohol use among college-aged students.
  To this end, a pilot study is conducted to evaluate students' movement
patterns to different contexts across the Arizona State University (ASU)
campus, and to use its results to develop an agent-based simulation model
designed for examining the role of environmental factors on development and
maintenance of alcohol drinking behavior by a representative sample of ASU
students. The proposed model that resembles an approximate reaction-diffusion
model accounts for movement of agents to various contexts (i.e. diffusion) and
alcohol drinking influences within those contexts (i.e., reaction) via a
SIR-type model. Of the four most visited contexts at ASU Tempe campus --
Library, Memorial Union, Fitness Center, and Dorm -- the context with the
highest visiting probability, Memorial Union, is the most influential and most
sensitive context (around $16$ times higher impact of alcohol related
influences than the other contexts) on spreading alcohol drinking behavior.
  Our findings highlight the crucial role of socialization at local
environments on the dynamics of students' alcohol use as well as on the
long-term prediction of the college drinking prevalence.
