Author of numerous books on electronic media and telecommunications plus a host of research and bibliographic articles, his primary research interests centered upon the history and policy development of electronic media and telecommunications.
He was an acting chair in the early 1990s and served as associate dean for graduate studies in arts and sciences from 1994 to 2001.
During the 1970s, he edited five series of facsimile reprints of 140 important early books in broadcasting and telecommunications for the New York Times' Arno Press, primarily for the library market.
Sterling has testified before or done consulting for congressional committees, the Department of Justice's Antitrust Division, the Office of Management and Budget, the former U.S. Information Agency, and the Federal Communications Commission.
Sterling also published articles about several of his avocations, including Sir Winston Churchill, the development of commercial aviation (including Commercial Air Transport Books: An Annotated Bibliography [1996] and a Supplement [1998]), ocean liners, and the history of fortification.