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    Thanks for your advice, I very much want to get to the point of "she is a distant memory!" I almost mentioned this in my original question, but I didn't want to clutter it up too much: this professor is prominent in a subfield of my field (which is very small), and she is a low-level organizer for the biggest conference in our field. There is a good chance that she will actively seek me out at this and other conferences. The very thought gives me a lot of anxiety. Deleting her emails is easy, avoiding her in person, maybe less so. Any thoughts on this?
    – adspeed
    Commented Apr 12, 2017 at 17:28
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    p.s. While the thought of having an academic archenemy appeals to my comic book self, I think in actuality it would not play out well. Like, she might academically crush me. XD I say that because she makes a point of interfering with other people's academic personas, spreads rumors, etc. Also, I am not exactly competitive or aggressive. I am more like Arthur (from The Tick) than Batman... I should probably stick with filtering her out of my inbox/life!
    – adspeed
    Commented Apr 12, 2017 at 17:36
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    @crobar Not everyone thrives on enmities. It's also a waste of time if you have a real life (as scientist and human). If she seeks OP out at conferences, my recommendation is to look on, not nod, not shake head, wait until the storm is over and continue doing what they have been doing before. Or, if they are being told something they cannot agree with, they can say "I respectful disagree." In calm tone, as often as is necessary. It might be worth changing topic for this, in fact, if she controls the field. But if she is just a low-level organiser, she probably upsets enough people as it is.
    – Captain Emacs
    Commented Apr 12, 2017 at 18:35
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    On the plus side, if she makes a point of doing this sort of thing often and broadly, she's likely known for it among others in the field. Given that, people will tend to discount negative judgments they hear from her because they won't be particularly reliable. If she's been around long enough, having her trying to slag your reputation could be a badge of honor - it means you've made it onto her radar.
    – Phil Miller
    Commented Apr 12, 2017 at 22:09
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    ultimately conferences mean little in academia -- Except in computer science, where they mean far more than journals.
    – JeffE
    Commented Apr 14, 2017 at 3:34