How to control the position and displacement rate of a feedback linear actuator

Hello,

I have a feedback linear actuator, Arduino Uno, Cytron 10A Bi-Directional DC Motor Driver Shield for Arduino, and a 12V power supply. I am trying to move the actuator to a specific position at a specific displacement rate (that will be determined by the user). I was able to do it through Arduino IDE with a code I downloaded online. I was wondering if it is possible to do it through Matlab (without using Simulink if possible). Does anyone has ever done it before and can give me advice on how to start writing the code?

Thank you very much!