Published information about the Merit Network

• "Merit Network", Wikipedia.
• "National Science Foundation Network (NSFNET)", Wikipedia.
  
• A Chronicle of Merit's Early History, John Mulcahy, Merit Network, Inc., 1989.
• "Merit Network, a timeline arranged by person, institution, event, and thing (1963-2006)", Karl Zinn, MTS Archive.
  
• "The Communications Computer Hardware of the MERIT Computer Network", E.M. Aupperle and W. Becher, IEEE Transactions on Communications, Volume 20 Issue 3 (June 1972), pages 516-526, doi: 10.1109/TCOM.1972.109120
• "The Merit Computer Network", Eric M. Aupperle and Donna L. Davis, EDUCOM Bulletin, Volume 13, No. 1 (Spring 1978), pages 8-19.
  
• "Merit's Evolution—Statistically Speaking", Eric M. Aupperle, IEEE Transactions on Computers, Vol.32 No.10 (October 1983), pp. 881-902.
• "Just Who Owns the Internet?", Sharon Fisher, InfoWorld, 4 February 1991.
  
• "The experts' outlook: Eric M. Aupperle on computers: Networking is key to future growth", E.M. Aupperle, IEEE Spectrum, Volume:22, Issue: 1 (January 1985), page 36, doi: 10.1109/MSPEC.1985.6370519.
• NSFNET: A Partnership for High-Speed Networking, Final Report, 1987-1995, Karen D. Frazer, Merit Network, Inc.
• Merit–Who, What, and Why, Part One: The Early Years, 1964-1983", Eric M. Aupperle, Merit Network, Inc., in Library Hi Tech, vol. 16, No. 1 (1998).
• "Merit–Who, What, and Why, Part Two: The Middle Years, 1983-1993", Eric M. Aupperle, Merit Network, Inc., in Library Hi Tech, vol. 16, No. 1 (1998).
• "Merit–Who, What, and Why, Part Three: Recent Events, 1993-1998", Eric M. Aupperle, Merit Network, Inc., in Library Hi Tech, vol. 16, No. 1 (1998).
• Memoir upon Eric Aupperle's retirement, 4 January 2002, Regents' Proceedings 211, University of Michigan.
• "40 years and going strong: Internet pioneer [Eric Aupperle of] Merit celebrates and looks ahead", Jim Duffy, Network World, November 10, 2006.
• "Applause: Aupperle receives Outstanding Engineer Award, Third Millennium Medal", University Record, Vol.55, No.31 (May 8, 2000), University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
• IEEE/SEM Section Award Recipients Outstanding Engineer Award, Wavelengths Newsletter, Vol.39, No.7 (April 2000), IEEE Southeastern Michigan Section (SEM) Section Website.
• Eric M. Aupperle receives the Alumni Society Medal, the highest honor given by the Alumni Society of the College of Engineering at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor to graduates who have excelled in a technical field. Aupperle is a research scientist emeritus at the university in electrical and computer engineering, IEEE member recognitions, January 2004.
• "History of the Merit Network", Kate Kellogg, Ann Arbor Area Business Monthly, Volume 1, No. 12 (February 2006).
  
• Eric Aupperle's obituary on M-Live, May 2015.
• "Eric M. Aupperle (1935 - 2015): An Internet Pioneer Leaves a Remarkable Legacy", a memorial from U-M's Electrical Engineering and Computer Science department, 7 May 2015.
• A short statement on the Merit web site, May 2015.
• "Internet2 Mourns the Loss of Former Merit Network President Eric M. Aupperle", 14 May 2015.
• Comments from Eric's friends and coworkers at Merit and the University of Michigan, MTS Archive, May 2015.

As used in this article, it isn't clear if "Michigan" refers to the State of Michigan or the University of Michigan. I'd guess that the ambiguity is at least partly intentional.

The Merit Network was founded by Michigan State University, the University of Michigan, and Wayne State University in 1966 as a non-profit incorporated in Michigan. Merit was and remains administratively attached to the University of Michigan. At the start of the NSFNET project Merit was governed by eight of the state's thirteen four year public universities. During the course of the NSFNET project, this grew to include all of Michigan's public universities. During the time when the NSFNET proposal was written and the project started, Doug Van Houweling was the Chair of the Merit Board of Directors. Doug was followed as Chair by Mort Rahimi (Wayne State) and Paul Hunt (MSU). Doug was also the Vice Provost for Information Technology at the University of Michigan. The State of Michigan contributed $5 million ($1 million a year for five years) in support of Merit's NSFNET proposal.

"How the Net Was Won" is a fall 2015 online article and video by Randy Milgorm and others from the U-M College of Engineering. It talks about the history of the Internet and in particular about activities from the mid-1980s to the mid-1990s at the Merit Network and the University of Michigan related to NSFNET.