Thanks for the suggestion. I tried removing those lines, but still get the error.

[joseph.orr@gfx hcp$ vglrun run_mcc ./conn
INFO: Copying ./conn to /tmp/.joseph.orr/./conn
Initializing MATLAB Runtime version 9.2
Loading MCR. Please wait...
Opening log file: /home/joseph.orr/java.log.16869
[VGL] ERROR: Could not open display :0.
The java.log doesn't seem to contain any useful information:
[joseph.orr@gfx hcp$ more /home/joseph.orr/java.log.16869
Operating System: Linux 2.6.32-696.28.1.el6.x86_64 #1 SMP Wed May 9 23:09:02 U
TC 2018 x86_64
Processor ID: x86 Family 111 Model 1 Stepping 2, AuthenticAMD
Host Name: gfx.brazos.tamu.edu
Picked up _JAVA_OPTIONS: -Xmx256m