Current Group Member

Prof. Dr. Roland Herzog

Group Leader

I joined Heidelberg University in April 2021 and established the group Scientific Computing and Optimization (SCOOP) at the Interdisciplinary Center for Scientific Computing (IWR).

You can find my CV here.

Research interests

My research interests include

  • optimal control of partial differential equations
  • large-scale optimization and its applications
  • numerical linear algebra
  • optimal experimental design
  • optimization on manifolds
  • numerical methods for partial differential equations

Current and Upcoming Projects

Thermal-Mechanical Description, Modeling and Optimization of the Gap in Laser Beam Welding in Butt Joint Configuration
Start: 2027-01-01
End: 2029-12-31
Principal Investigators: Roland Herzog, Jean Pierre Bergmann
Funded by: DFG within the Individual Research Grant funding scheme

Computational Shape Optimization for Materials Science and Biology
Start: 2026-01-01
End: 2026-12-31
Principal Investigators: Roland Herzog, Ulrich Schwarz
Staff: Manuel Weiß
Funded by: MWK, BMFTR within the Excellence Strategy funding scheme
Part of: Patterns and Structures in Mathematics, Data, and the Material World (FoF 2)

Machine Learning and Optimal Experimental Design for Thermodynamic Property Modeling
Start: 2025-03-01
End: 2028-02-29
Principal Investigators: Roland Herzog, Markus Richter
Staff: Viktor Martinek, Ophelia Frotscher
Funded by: DFG within the Priority Program funding scheme
Part of: Machine Learning in Chemical Engineering (SPP 2331)

Surrogate-Based Prediction of Cycle Fatigue Strength of Rotating Shafts and Process Optimization Using Flexible Kriging Models (dPRO2)
Start: 2024-10-01
End: 2027-09-30
Principal Investigators: Roland Herzog
Collaborators: Thomas Lampke, Lisa Winter, Andreas Schubert
Staff: Lena Becker, Hannah Rickmann, Sahib Kaur, Pascale Neubauer
Funded by: DFG within the Package Proposal funding scheme
Part of: Data-Driven Process-Property Models to Predict Cycle Fatigue Strength (PAK 1105)

Optimal Control and Optimal Experimental Design for MRI and Photoacoustic Imaging (MBAI)
Start: 2022-04-01
End: 2028-03-31
Principal Investigators: Roland Herzog, Robert Scheichl
Staff: Karina Koval
Funded by: Carl Zeiss Foundation within the CZS Breakthroughs funding scheme
Part of: Model-Based AI: Physical Models and Deep Learning for Imaging and Cancer Treatment

Latest Publications

  • Ronny Bergmann, Roland Herzog and Hajg Jasa
    The Riemannian convex bundle method
    Journal of Nonsmooth Analysis and Optimization 6, 2026
    doi:10.46298/jnsao-2026-16115
    bibtex 
    @ARTICLE{BergmannHerzogJasa:2026:1,
  AUTHOR = {Bergmann, Ronny and Herzog, Roland and Jasa, Hajg},
  DATE = {2026-10},
  DOI = {10.46298/jnsao-2026-16115},
  JOURNALTITLE = {Journal of Nonsmooth Analysis and Optimization},
  TITLE = {The Riemannian convex bundle method},
  VOLUME = {6},
}
  • Tiangang Cui, Karina Koval, Roland Herzog and Robert Scheichl
    Subspace accelerated measure transport methods for fast and scalable sequential experimental design, with application to photoacoustic imaging
    SIAM/ASA Journal on Uncertainty Quantification 14(4), p.1476-1503, 2026
    arXiv:2502.20086
    doi:10.1137/25m1735329
    bibtex 
    @ARTICLE{CuiKovalHerzogScheichl:2026:1,
  AUTHOR = {Cui, Tiangang and Koval, Karina and Herzog, Roland and Scheichl, Robert},
  PUBLISHER = {Society for Industrial \& Applied Mathematics (SIAM)},
  DATE = {2026-10},
  DOI = {10.1137/25m1735329},
  EPRINT = {2502.20086},
  EPRINTTYPE = {arXiv},
  JOURNALTITLE = {SIAM/ASA Journal on Uncertainty Quantification},
  NUMBER = {4},
  PAGES = {1476--1503},
  TITLE = {Subspace accelerated measure transport methods for fast and scalable sequential experimental design, with application to photoacoustic imaging},
  VOLUME = {14},
}
  • Nico Haaf and Roland Herzog
    Preconditioned latent variable proximal point method for optimal control problems with control constraints, 2026
    arXiv:2610.16678
    bibtex 
    @ONLINE{HaafHerzog:2026:1,
  AUTHOR = {Haaf, Nico and Herzog, Roland},
  DATE = {2026-10},
  EPRINT = {2610.16678},
  EPRINTTYPE = {arXiv},
  TITLE = {Preconditioned latent variable proximal point method for optimal control problems with control constraints},
}
  • David Li, Santiago Gomez Melo, Manuel Weiß, Stephan Schmidt, Roland Herzog and Ulrich Sebastian Schwarz
    Controlling nematic fields through shape optimization, 2026
    doi:10.2139/ssrn.7499226
    bibtex 
    @ONLINE{LiGomezMeloWeissSchmidtHerzogSchwarz:2026:1,
  AUTHOR = {Li, David and Gomez Melo, Santiago and Weiß, Manuel and Schmidt, Stephan and Herzog, Roland and Schwarz, Ulrich Sebastian},
  PUBLISHER = {Elsevier BV},
  DATE = {2026-09},
  DOI = {10.2139/ssrn.7499226},
  TITLE = {Controlling nematic fields through shape optimization},
}

Latest Software

  • Lukas Baumgärtner, Roland Herzog, Stephan Schmidt and Manuel Weiß
    The proximal map of the weighted mean absolute error, 2023
    doi:10.5281/zenodo.7620815
    bibtex 
    @SOFTWARE{BaumgaertnerHerzogSchmidtWeiss:2022:2,
  AUTHOR = {Baumgärtner, Lukas and Herzog, Roland and Schmidt, Stephan and Weiß, Manuel},
  DATE = {2023},
  DOI = {10.5281/zenodo.7620815},
  TITLE = {The proximal map of the weighted mean absolute error},
}
  • Roland Herzog
    The SCOOP template engine, 2023
    https://pypi.org/project/scoop-template-engine/
    bibtex 
    @SOFTWARE{Herzog:2023:1,
  AUTHOR = {Herzog, Roland},
  URL = {https://pypi.org/project/scoop-template-engine/},
  DATE = {2023},
  TITLE = {The SCOOP template engine},
}
  • Robert Altmann and Roland Herzog
    Continuous Galerkin schemes for semi-explicit differential-algebraic equations, 2021
    doi:10.5281/zenodo.4682720
    bibtex 
    @SOFTWARE{AltmannHerzog:2021:1,
  AUTHOR = {Altmann, Robert and Herzog, Roland},
  DATE = {2021},
  DOI = {10.5281/zenodo.4682720},
  TITLE = {Continuous Galerkin schemes for semi-explicit differential-algebraic equations},
}
  • Tommy Etling, Roland Herzog, Estefanía Loayza and Gerd Wachsmuth
    First and second order shape optimization based on restricted mesh deformations, 2018
    doi:10.5281/zenodo.2547481
    bibtex 
    @SOFTWARE{EtlingHerzogLoayzaWachsmuth:2018:2,
  AUTHOR = {Etling, Tommy and Herzog, Roland and Loayza, Estefanía and Wachsmuth, Gerd},
  DATE = {2018},
  DOI = {10.5281/zenodo.2547481},
  TITLE = {First and second order shape optimization based on restricted mesh deformations},
}

Selected Talks

  • Roland Herzog
    Krylov subspace methods with a twist, 2025
    doi:10.5281/zenodo.15864810
    bibtex 
    @ONLINE{Herzog:2025:1,
  AUTHOR = {Herzog, Roland},
  DATE = {2025-06-25},
  DOI = {10.5281/zenodo.15864810},
  NOTE = {Plenary presentation given at the 30th Biennial Numerical Analysis Conference, University of Strathclyde},
  TITLE = {Krylov subspace methods with a twist},
}

Recent Teaching

Currently Supervising

  • M.Sc. Thesis of Simone Hechler:
    Dissipativity Analysis for Optimization Algorithms
    M.Sc. Mathematik
    Supervision: Roland Herzog and Georg Müller
  • M.Sc. Thesis of Laura Saiz:
    Newton Method for Manifold-Valued Image Denoising
    M.Sc. Mathematik, Heidelberg University
    Supervision: Roland Herzog, Georg Müller, Antonia Stavemann, Anton Schiela and Laura Weigl
  • M.Sc. Thesis of Jan Hendrik Agatz:
    A modern derivation of quasi-Newton formulas
    M.Sc. Mathematik, Heidelberg University
    Supervision: Roland Herzog and Georg Müller
  • M.Sc. Thesis of Mara-Eliana Popescu:
    Denoising Equations: Continuous and Discrete Diffusion Models for Symbolic Regression
    M.Sc. Data and Computer Science, Heidelberg University
    Supervision: Ullrich Köthe, Roland Herzog, Paul Sägert and Viktor Martinek
  • B.Sc. Thesis of Yannick Kopp:
    Integer Sum of Linear Ratios Optimization Problems
    B.Sc. Mathematik
    Supervision: Roland Herzog and Georg Müller

Recent Events Organized