1. A computer implemented method of coarsening a finite element mesh (â€œFEMâ€), comprising: selecting, with a computer, a coarsening region within the FEM to be coarsened; selecting, with the computer, perimeter chords running along perimeter boundaries of the coarsening region; redirecting, with the computer, paths of the perimeter chords to create an adaptive chord separating the coarsening region from a remainder of the FEM, the adaptive chord running through mesh elements residing along the perimeter boundaries of the coarsening region; extracting, with the computer, the adaptive chord; and rendering, with the computer, the FEM to a display with fewer mesh elements in the coarsening region, wherein the FEM comprises a non-hybrid FEM, the coarsening region is localized to less than an entire portion of the FEM, and wherein the FEM comprises a conformal mesh with all mesh nodes forming a corner of a corresponding mesh element of the FEM.