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Sorry to be so long in responding; things have been rather hectic.
However this note may give you a bit more information about the
areas which interest me and which have some mathematically interesting
properties. ( I am also involved in machine architecture, interactive
programming and computing systems -- design and implementation, but
these areas are more technological than mathematically substantial)

Basically, the application of mathematical logic to computing problems
is a good cover name for my interest. For example, precise specification
of programming languages, explication of computing ideas in terms of 
abstract mathematical ideas, development of methods for proving correctness
and/or equivalence or algorithms, development of formalisms to support 
program synthesis; these are interesting areas. 

The basis for  research are founded on mathematical logic; for 
example Mendelson's book (logic); Hartley Rogers Recursive Function Theory;
Kleene, introduction to metamathematics (old, but still valuable);
Manna, Mathematical theory of computation, is a  recent work relating
logic to computer science; a deeper book is Stoy's book from MIT press
on Mathematical semantics of programming languages. When I was a UCLA
they had a very resptable mathematical logic program; they should be able
to refer you to other sources.

Several people have examines semantic issues for the algebraic viewpoint.
In particular there is a person at the UCLA computer science department,
 J.A. Goguen who is active in the
field. You might examine some of his papers to see if they are of interest to
you. There is a recent article co-authored by him in the Journal of the
ACM; (recent = last two years), titles "Initial Algebra Semantics and 
continuous algebras" (sorry I don't know the exact publishing date)

The more general background about the structure of programming languages
can be found in my book (blush); alas not much else is available outside
of research reports. Read some of the material I suggest above; 
if the general area appeals to you I (or Peter Schorer) can xerox some 
of these reports.

If you  would like to talk with someone at UCLA, I would suggest
Dave Martin in the computer science department. I always found him to be
an open, receptive person. His interests and inclinations are similar to 
those outlined by me.

I will continue to think about other areas which might be  of interest,
but the references above will give you a place to start.


					Sincerely,



					John Allen
final thought:
see J reynolds " Definitional interpreters for higher order languages"
proceedings of ACM,1972 (pp717-740)

luckham et. al, on formalized computer prorams", Jrnl  Comp. and System Sciences,
vol 4 1970 (pp220-249)