Many of you have contacted us regarding the upcoming deadline for receipt of Career Track reference letters and have expressed concerns that Science Advisors and/or other individuals asked to provide references are notable to perform this work due to the government shutdown. In light of the continued shutdown, we are extending the deadline for receipt of reference letters to January 31, 2019; hopefully the government shutdown will have ended by then and our process can continue in alignment with the rest of the established timeline. However, we will continue to monitor the shutdown closely and will let you know of any other changes to the process, should the shutdown continue.