An Agent-Based Model of Seasonal Influenza in a Small-Scale Campus Setting Under Varying Student Vaccination RatesdissertationsLuiz, Peyton BaileycreatorGantenberg, JasonAdvisorKhanna, AdityaReaderBrown University. School of Public Healthsponsor2026, None p.born digitalThesis (M. P. H.)--Brown University, 2026thesesObjectives: College campuses frequently experience high rates of seasonal influenza transmission, posing a risk not only to students but also to the older, more vulnerable faculty and staff who share these indoor environments. This study aims to examine how varying levels of student influenza vaccine uptake impact the transmission dynamics of mild, moderate, and severe influenza strains across the entire campus community in a small-scale, indoor setting. Methods: We developed an agent-based model (ABM) using the EMOD-Generic software to simulate seasonal influenza transmission within a closed, randomly mixing population of 1,000 agents representing students, faculty, and staff. Demographics and baseline vaccination rates were derived from real-world data. Twelve outbreak scenarios, combining three levels of influenza strain severity and four levels of vaccination, were each simulated 500 times. Primary outcomes included cumulative incidence, peak prevalence, and outbreak duration. Results: Increasing student vaccination consistently reduced the magnitude and duration of epidemics across all strain severities. In moderate strain scenarios, increasing student vaccination from low (23.4%) to high (46.8%) reduced the median cumulative incidence for the overall population from 39.5% to 26.5%. Notably, despite holding faculty and staff vaccination rates constant, greater student vaccine uptake conferred substantial indirect protection; median cumulative incidence among non-students declined from 37.2% under low student vaccination to 27.7% under high student vaccination in moderate strain epidemics. Peak prevalence and outbreak duration also saw marked reductions as student vaccination increased. Discussion: Our model showed that higher student influenza vaccine uptake may significantly mitigate cumulative incidence and peak prevalence of influenza for the entire campus community, providing crucial indirect protection to faculty and staff. These findings underscore the critical need for targeted public health interventions to improve student vaccine uptake in higher education settings.Computational modelingInfluenza--VaccinationCollege students--HealthEnglishRPB20260516