His research and writing focuses on the relationship between industrial change and the built environment in nineteenth-century cities such as New York and Philadelphia. Dr. Zylstra has also written on the history of poverty for the House Committee on Ways and Means. As a member of the Society for the History of Technology, he serves as Chair of Women in Technological History. He earned his Ph.D. in history from Case Western Reserve University, his master’s degree from the University of Maryland – College Park, and his bachelor’s from Calvin College.