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AI in 2026 is evolving from a set of tools into a foundational layer shaping how work, decisions, and discovery happen across every industry. The focus is shifting toward more autonomous, integrated, and intelligent systems that augment human capabilities and redefine productivity and visibility.1. AI Agents Become the New InterfaceAI is moving beyond chat into autonomous agents that can take action, not just answer questions. These agents can research, schedule, execute workflows, and interact with other systems on your behalf. Instead of using apps, users increasingly “assign tasks” to AI.2. AI-Driven Search Replaces Traditional DiscoverySearch is shifting from links to answers. AI systems summarize, recommend, and cite sources directly, reducing clicks and reshaping how organizations get found. Visibility now depends on being structured, trusted, and machine-readable, not just ranked.3. Every Role Gets an AI CopilotAI copilots are now embedded across most professional tools, from Microsoft and Google to industry-specific platforms. Employees are expected to use AI to draft, analyze, and optimize their work, making AI literacy a baseline skill.4. Smaller Teams, Bigger OutputAI is dramatically increasing productivity, allowing lean teams to accomplish what previously required much larger groups. This is leading to flatter organizations, faster execution, and higher expectations for output and impact.5. Trust, Governance, and “Human-in-the-Loop” Become CriticalAs AI takes on more responsibility, organizations are prioritizing accuracy, transparency, and oversight. New roles and frameworks are emerging to manage risk, ensure ethical use, and validate AI-generated outputs.Bottom line:AI in 2026 is less about tools and more about systems that act, decide, and shape visibility, making it essential to rethink how work gets done and how expertise gets discovered.

At Riverdale University, expertise is defined by more than academic credentials, it’s grounded in real-world impact, interdisciplinary collaboration, and a commitment to public engagement. Riverdale’s faculty and researchers are recognized not only for their deep subject knowledge, but for how they apply that expertise to address complex challenges across areas like sustainable infrastructure, public policy, health innovation, and emerging technologies. Many of our experts actively collaborate with industry partners, advise government agencies, and contribute to national and global conversations through media and research. Just as importantly, Riverdale places a strong emphasis on communication, ensuring our experts can translate complex ideas into clear, actionable insights for a wide range of audiences. This combination of knowledge, application, and accessibility is what defines expertise at Riverdale University.

Riverdale University places hands-on learning at the core of its academic experience, ensuring students can apply what they learn in meaningful, real-world settings. Across disciplines, students engage in experiential opportunities such as co-op placements, industry partnerships, fieldwork, and applied research projects that connect classroom theory to practical challenges. Whether it’s engineering students working on sustainable infrastructure prototypes, business students consulting with local startups, or health sciences students participating in community-based clinics, Riverdale emphasizes learning by doing. The university also integrates project-based coursework and interdisciplinary labs that encourage collaboration and problem-solving, preparing graduates with the skills, confidence, and experience needed to succeed in today’s evolving workforce.

Riverdale University is advancing research in areas like sustainable infrastructure, digital health, and responsible AI, with a strong focus on practical application. Our approach emphasizes interdisciplinary collaboration, bringing together experts from engineering, health sciences, and social sciences to tackle complex, real-world problems.What sets our work apart is its translational focus. We’re not just publishing research, we’re working with partners to move ideas into practice, whether that’s piloting new healthcare delivery models or developing technologies that support more resilient and sustainable communities.

Riverdale University plays a direct role in driving regional growth through research partnerships, workforce development, and community-based initiatives. Our faculty and students work closely with local organizations, healthcare providers, and businesses to solve real challenges, from improving public health outcomes to supporting small business innovation.In addition, our graduates are a key talent pipeline for the region. Many stay local after completing their studies, contributing to economic stability and helping organizations remain competitive in a rapidly evolving landscape.

CaptionResizeWrap TextRemoveSupport for, and trust in, public health is at a nadir. Recent accomplishments include the rapid development and approval of a safe and effective COVID-19 vaccine, effective mpox response, declines in opioid overdose deaths through harm reduction, and evidence-based public health initiatives addressing root causes of gun violence. Despite these initiatives, which have significantly reduced the population-level impact of injury and illness, perceived missteps in the management of COVID-19, pervasive mis- and disinformation, increasing public distrust, and a lack of financial support have contributed to the deterioration of public health’s ability to respond to disasters and emergencies. The impact of false narratives and disinvestments interrupt the public health workforce pipeline, denying students opportunities to be trained for and participate in public health emergency preparedness activities. In 2003, I began my career as a disaster epidemiologist conducting household interviews for rapid needs assessments being conducted by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the N.C. Division of Public Health, and the University of North Carolina following Hurricane Isabel.For more than two decades, I deployed with students in partnership with local, state, and federal public health agencies to respond to disasters and collect data that contributed to both the immediate and long-term mitigation of the negative health impacts of disasters.This work, conducted in communities across the United States, is only possible because of a community’s trust in public health agencies and individuals’ willingness to share their postdisaster needs with our interview teams, which typically include a public health student and a local resident.The collection of perishable data in postdisaster contexts is challenging regardless of circumstance, and alterations have been made over time to ensure better representation of pregnant women, migrant workers, and rural populations in these postdisaster assessments. Yet, these assessments would not be possible at all without trusted connections between governmental agencies, academic public health, and disaster-affected communities.Politicization threatens our ability to respondPoliticization of disaster response and disaster assistance, and the mis- and disinformation that has now become prevalent around it, make it more difficult to collect these data. Following Hurricane Helene, one of my public health students at the University of Delaware worked with the western North Carolina nonprofit Sustaining Essential and Rural Community Healthcare to conduct key informant interviews and a Community Assessment for Public Health Emergency Response community survey. Both officials and residents reported that misinformation took time and attention away from response activities and disinformation led residents to distrust the response and recovery.After the pandemic, we have a dramatically under-resourced public health preparedness and response system, even in the face of more frequent and severe disasters and public health emergencies. These challenges will continue to mount as the Trump administration dismantles not only public health but also science more broadly. If the administration continues with their stated intent to dismantle the National Center for Atmospheric Research, this will further limit our ability to understand the human health impacts of extreme weather and weather-related hazards associated with climate change. This comes after significant damage to other federal agencies, including the CDC, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, all of whom monitor and collect data on disasters caused by natural, biological, and technological or industrial hazards and risks.A weakened workforce pipelineWith the rapidly changing landscape, students are learning about “how things used to be,” with an asterisk next to almost all federal disaster and public health policies and legal frameworks noting that the material could be outdated quickly. However, it is important that students are aware of the mechanisms and functionalities that have existed before this most recent political upheaval. For new public health professionals to help build back programs in more sustainable and resilient ways, it is vital that they have a comprehensive understanding of the policies that were dismantled, as well as their strengths and weaknesses. However, limited job opportunities and ongoing uncertainty will steer this generation of public health students away from governmental public health careers, leaving a long-term deficit of expertise.The difference between an emergency and a disaster is that in an emergency, actions can be taken to avoid a disaster, which exceeds the capacity of an impacted community. The Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA’s) workforce is 20% smaller under the Trump administration, and mitigation grants through the Flood Mitigation Assistance and Building Resiliency Infrastructure and Communities programs have been eliminated. Reducing community capacity to manage social, systemic, and infrastructural risks through disaster risk reduction, mitigation, and anticipatory action will result in emergencies more frequently progressing into disasters. Furthermore, without federal capacity to respond in agencies like FEMA or CDC, the risks that a given emergency will become a disaster also drastically increase simply because of the ways resources are allocated. Students will no longer have the opportunity to participate in fieldwork when there are no federally supported disaster responses or to learn about disaster epidemiology when there is no longer funding for academic programs that teach students public health in complex emergencies and disaster epidemiology concepts. A safety net that is frayed in nondisaster times will simply unravel during a public health emergency.Overall, it is critical for both the current and future public health workforce to continue to work to identify and understand the social drivers of health and the ways in which the current regulatory, technological, and political moment is affecting public health in both the short and long term. Discussing the ongoing stress impacts of the “triple disaster” in Japan in 2011 (i.e., earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear accident at the Fukushima power plant), Adam highlighted the importance of identifying and understanding the impacts of new and unexpected stressors on population health.A call to action Borrowing from this framing, the next generation of public health professionals must now begin to engage in quantifying the public health impacts of these policies to generate the essential evidence base for the future reinvestment in, and reinvigoration of, public health emergency preparedness.Current public health students can begin to actively capture the baseline state of public health, commit to ongoing active surveillance and measurement, and engage with both objective measures of health and self-reported perceptions to track how the human-made and unexpected stressors like artificial intelligence, climate change, and political polarization may affect us.While being “political” has often been seen as a negative for public health officials, now is not the time for public health students to be insular or isolated. Although engaging with the political, legislative, legal, and business sectors as a public health student or professional may feel daunting, public health must now more than ever engage with a variety of new partners and tools for public health practice. We cannot respond to the current attacks on public health in isolation. Businesses must speak up regarding how important a healthy and safe workforce is to their success. Local officials must advocate for the health of their residents and communities.The long-held sovereignty of local public health governance must give way to regional collaborations like the recently announced Northeast Public Health Collaborative, which brings together 10 states and New York City to work together on issues like vaccine policy, public health financing, and public health data collection, management, and analysis.Public health has always had the impetus to protect previous achievements—vaccination, robust surveillance systems, workplace and environmental safety, maternal and child health, reducing health disparities—through monitoring and evaluation, education, regulatory enforcement, and other essential public health services. For public health students, now is the time to find your passion, engage with partners that can support you, and prepare to lead.

Expert profiles in ExpertFile are rich, structured bios that go far beyond a simple staff listing or résumé. Each profile is purpose-built to showcase professional expertise, bringing together credentials, research interests, publications, media appearances, speaking history, courses, awards, and even embedded multimedia such as videos and books. This comprehensive, multimedia-rich format gives journalists, event organizers, and potential partners a clear picture of an expert’s authority and relevance.Unlike general networking sites such as LinkedIn—where information can be inconsistent, unverified, or lost in endless feeds—ExpertFile profiles are tailored to highlight expertise. They are structured around the elements that decision-makers actually search for when looking for subject-matter experts, making them highly discoverable in search engines and optimized for AI-driven summaries. This means your experts are far more likely to appear not only in traditional Google results but also in the new wave of AI-powered discovery tools that rely on structured, credible data to provide accurate answers.Another key difference is openness and integration. While LinkedIn profiles sit behind a login and are primarily designed for individual networking, ExpertFile profiles are public-facing and built to be shared widely. They don’t just live on a single platform—they can be seamlessly embedded into your organization’s website, showcased through customizable Expert Centers, Speaker Bureaus, or Research Bureaus, and distributed through the global expertfile.com search engine as well as the ExpertFile Mobile App. This interconnected ecosystem ensures your experts and their content reach audiences wherever they are—whether that’s online search, media outlets, or event organizers scouting for speakers.In short, ExpertFile profiles function as living digital assets. They’re continually updated, easily repurposed across platforms, and designed to maximize visibility, credibility, and long-term opportunity creation in ways that generic social networks can’t match.

AI interviews have become common practice in today’s hiring process. Even though a job candidate is talking to a computer and not a person, it’s important for them to treat this process the same as any other interview. Most AI platforms don’t just record answers, they also provide an analysis of interviews including keywords, clarity, depth of examples, confidence, tone, eye contact and facial expressions. While AI does not make the final hiring decision, it will provide a score or summary that recruiters could use to determine if a candidate moves on to the next round. These quick tips can help candidates prepare for these types of interviews.Before you record:• Check equipment to make sure everything is working and the software is updated. • Dress professionally including a jacket if appropriate.• Set up your space with good lighting, a neutral background, and turn off all notifications to avoid distractions.• Prepare as you would for any other interview - review the job description, research the organization, use the STAR method when providing examples.During the recording:• Be sure to look at the camera and not the screen. It might feel awkward but that’s technically where the "eye contact" will be.• Smile and be energetic as some AI software will assess your tone and engagement.• If you stumble, keep going. Your answers don’t have to be perfect but should be authentic.After the recording:• Some platforms will allow you to review your recording before submitting. Use this opportunity to take notes about your body language, pacing and clarity.• Keep track of the questions you were asked as they can help you prepare for similar questions in future interviews.

Organizations that implement ExpertFile experience results that go far beyond visibility. Marketing and communications teams in particular are able to do more with less—streamlining workflows, amplifying expert content, and reaching wider audiences without adding headcount or heavy technical resources. At a foundational level, clients see increased organic search rankings, more media mentions, and more speaking opportunities for their experts. Analytics consistently show growth in traffic to expert directories, higher engagement with spotlight posts, and more inbound inquiries from journalists, event organizers, and potential collaborators.Instead of investing heavily in building and maintaining a fully functioning Expert Center, Speakers Bureau, or Research Bureau on their own websites, clients leverage ExpertFile’s turnkey platform that delivers these capabilities at scale—along with built-in distribution across newsrooms, search engines, and AI-driven discovery. This saves substantial cost and ensures best-in-class functionality and reach.Examples by IndustryCorporate – Companies use ExpertFile to showcase executive expertise, technical specialists, and thought leaders to boost credibility in competitive sales cycles and drive analyst/media attention.Higher Education – Universities build Research Bureaus that spotlight faculty across disciplines, leading to stronger research funding cases, improved rankings, and more media coverage of groundbreaking studies.Healthcare – Hospitals and health systems highlight clinicians and medical researchers, improving patient/media access while positioning the institution as a trusted source on critical health issues.Associations – Member organizations use ExpertFile to amplify the voices of industry experts, creating speaking and media opportunities that elevate the association’s influence and advocacy efforts.Startups – Emerging companies can appear bigger than their size by presenting a polished Expert Center that builds investor confidence, establishes thought leadership, and attracts strategic partnerships.In every case, ExpertFile strengthens institutional reputation by positioning experts in front of the right audiences. The visibility and credibility generated through this exposure translate into new partnerships, research funding, student recruitment, speaking invitations, and other future opportunities.The result is measurable ROI in the form of visibility, credibility, reputation, and long-term opportunity creation.

AI can scan full papers, grants, protocols, and appendices to surface where the real story lives: unexpected findings, practical implications, limitations, and unanswered questions that prompt great interviews. Ask it to map angles by audience (public, policy, donors, clinicians) and to point to the exact sections that support each angle.Learn more with our ExpertFile Spotlight titled: "ChatGPT-5.2 Now Achieves “Expert-Level” Performance — Is this the Holiday Gift Research Communications Professionals Needed?"CaptionResizeWrap TextRemove