Three companies receive Ron Brown Award

USA Today

Alcoa, Merck and United Parcel Service are winners of the fourth annual Ron Brown Award for leadership.

Established in 1997 and named for the former secretary of Commerce who died in a plane crash in 1996, the award recognizes companies whose programs improve employee well-being or area communities.

• Aluminum maker Alcoa won for a safety initiative that has made its plants five times safer than a decade ago.

• Drugmaker Merck's Institute for Science Education won for a 6-year-old program aimed at motivating public school children to learn science. The $20 million program has boosted the science, mathematics and technology expertise of 1,200 educators in 34 New Jersey and Pennsylvania elementary and middle schools. Merck employees also volunteer to be a science resource for the teachers.

• Delivery service UPS won for its welfare-to-work program, which began 25 years ago and operates in 40 sites nationwide, hiring more than 35,000 people off welfare.