Prior to joining Stern, Professor Sylla taught at North Carolina State and the University of Pennsylvania. His primary areas of research include historical studies of money, banking, and finance, and he is the past editor of Journal of Economic History and serves on the editorial board of many journals, including Financial History Review, Enterprise and Society, and Economic and Financial History Abstracts. He once served as President of the Economic History Association and the Business History Conference, and is currently a Trustee of the Museum of American Finance. Professor Sylla has received several awards and grants including National Science Foundation grants, an Alfred P. Sloan Foundation grant, and the Citibank Award for Excellence in Teaching at the Stern School.

Sylla's brother, James, who was president of Chevron U.S.A. Inc., died in the crash of Pacific Southwest Airlines Flight 1771 in 1987.

Professor Sylla has published three books.

Professor Sylla has published three papers and has also been quoted in USA Today.

Professor Sylla received his BA from Harvard before studying at the Indian Statistical Institute at Calcutta. He also received a MA and PhD from Harvard.