Here's the response from the HPC team - it looks like sshfs won't be a viable option with the research cluster:

We do not allow mounting of directories either on our system or of our shared storage onto others. One could do the additional processing on our cluster and we are happy to have that discussion.

Java SSH library forums/resources:
What is an example of using an SSH library in Java, and how can I establish a secure connection with it?
The Evolution of Java SSH Libraries
SSH Connection with Java

Libraries I've seen mentioned the most:
Apache MINA SSHD
JSch

I chatted with Steven today about this issue while waiting for the HPC team to get back to me. He suggested that a more long-term solution to opening remote files would be to integrate a Java SSH library into IGB. He wasn't sure which library that might be, but in theory this would allow UNC-Charlotte folk (and potentially anyone working with computing clusters) to view their files in IGB via SSH without having to spend time downloading files to their machines.

Help ticket has been submitted:

Hello! I hope your day's going well.

I recently ran a pipeline on some genomics data I have on the cluster and the resulting files are quite large (>100 GB in total). Rather than downloading all of this data to my local computer for further analyses, I was hoping to use SSHFS to mount the output folder from the cluster to my local machine. I followed the instructions at this link to install SSHFS and run it: https://docs.icer.msu.edu/Mapping_HPC_drives_with_SSHFS/. I'm not seeing any error messages when I run SSHFS and I do see that my destination folder turns into a Remote Volume as expected, but the files are only displaying in the file finder very briefly before disappearing, after which I'm not able to see them in the file finder or via command line.

I would love some help troubleshooting why this might not be working as expected. I've tried unmounting the folder, deleting and recreating the folder, then mounting it again but that hasn't worked.

Cheers,
Paige

I've followed the instructions at the link in the Description to install SSHFS and its dependent package(s). I've also followed the instructions there to mount a directory on the cluster to my local computer:

sshfs pkulzer@hpc9.charlotte.edu:/projects/tomato_genome/fnb/nfcore_scrnaseq/results/star/ hpcc_nf/ -ovolname=hpcc_nf -o allow_other,defer_permissions,follow_symlinks,reconnect -ocache=no -onolocalcaches

The files are not appearing even though I'm seeing the remote volume on my computer now, so I will contact the HPC team to troubleshoot from here.